A CFD quote requires a coherent bid and ask, not a last-traded reference value copied into both sides.
Identify whether the two sides arrive together or are assembled from separate updates. Record their ages and reject inverted spreads according to the agreed policy; silently swapping the fields hides a source or transformation problem.
Define the consumers that use bid, ask or midpoint. Charts, valuations and trading screens may need different bases, and a broker's spread adjustment should remain distinguishable from the upstream observation.
Bring the proposed instrument list, source documentation and consumer workflow to a technical discussion. The agreed integration specification defines coverage, fields, usage permissions and acceptance tests.
| Instrument scope | Identify the exact underlying, source identifier, quote currency and intended use. |
|---|---|
| Consumer workflow | List trading platforms, charts, risk tools and applications that need the output. |
| Delivery contract | Agree protocol, quote fields, timestamps, source status and recovery behaviour. |
| Production review | Confirm source rights, integration ownership, test evidence and commercial scope. |
For your instrument universe, define who consumes the prices and what each system needs to reconstruct a usable quote. An application dashboard, broker platform and historical process can require different delivery rules even when they share one normalized instrument model.