Methodology
How MktInvest collects, cleans and publishes the commodities data you see — and how fresh it is.
Overview
MktInvest is a reference point for following the world of commodities. We aggregate prices, market news and the economic calendar from a small set of trusted providers, reconcile them into a single consistent model, and present the result with clear timestamps so you always know how current a figure is. This page documents that process end to end.
Our guiding principle is that data should be comparable, traceable and honest about its age. Where two sources disagree, we prefer the primary venue (the exchange of record) and surface the discrepancy rather than hide it.
The data pipeline
Ingest
We pull prices, news and economic releases from primary exchanges and reference providers on independent schedules.
Normalize
Every instrument is mapped to a common symbol, unit and currency so figures are comparable across venues and sectors.
Validate
Outliers, stale quotes and unit mismatches are flagged against prior closes and day ranges before anything is published.
Publish
Clean records are timestamped in UTC and surfaced with an explicit freshness indicator on every view.
How we source & normalize
Each instrument is bound to a canonical symbol and a single quoting unit — barrels for crude, troy ounces for precious metals, bushels for grains, and so on. Prices are kept in their native trading currency (predominantly USD) and never silently converted. When an exchange publishes a daily settlement, that value supersedes the last intraday quote for end-of-day views.
Derived figures — day change, percentage move, day and 52-week ranges — are computed from the same normalized record, so the number in a table, a chart and a card always agree. Forward curves are assembled from listed contract months and labelled by delivery period, never interpolated past the last liquid contract.
Freshness & latency
Expected update cadence and typical lag from the source event to publication. Latency is indicative and can widen around major releases or exchange outages.
| Data class | Source | Cadence | Typical latency | Coverage window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy futures | CME · ICE | Every 15 min | ~15 min | Sun 22:00 – Fri 22:00 UTC |
| Metals (precious & industrial) | LME · CME | Every 15 min | ~15 min | Mon–Fri, exchange hours |
| Agriculture & softs | CME · ICE | Every 15 min | ~20 min | Mon–Fri, pit & electronic |
| Daily settlements | Exchange settlement files | Once daily | ~60 min | Post-close, each session |
| Inventory & supply reports | EIA · USDA | On release | ~5 min | Scheduled report calendar |
| Market news | Reuters · Bloomberg | Continuous | ~2 min | 24/7 |
Our sources
We rely on a deliberately small roster of primary venues and established news providers. Each is attributed wherever its data is shown.
Reuters
NewsReal-time market reporting and reference headlines across every commodity sector.
Bloomberg
News & referenceBenchmark commentary and reference pricing used to corroborate moves.
CME Group
Futures & curvesFutures settlement prices and forward curves for energy, metals and agriculture.
LME
MetalsLondon Metal Exchange settlement prices and warehouse data for industrial metals.
EIA
Energy fundamentalsU.S. Energy Information Administration inventories, production and consumption series.
USDA
Agriculture fundamentalsAgricultural supply, demand and crop progress reports underpinning grain and soft markets.
Limitations & disclaimer
MktInvest's analyst views are built from real, cited sources — every fact links back to the article it came from. We do not currently display live market prices; nothing here is a real-time market feed, and the views must not be used for trading, valuation or any decision with financial consequences without consulting the primary sources.
Nothing on this site constitutes investment, legal, tax or accounting advice, nor an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any instrument. Commodities markets are volatile and past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified professional and the primary source before acting.
Questions about our methodology? Read more about MktInvest.