Alternative data
Non-traditional datasets, such as web, on-chain, sentiment, or activity signals, used to gain insight beyond standard sources like company filings and price feeds.
Alternative data is information that sits outside the traditional, structured sources a field relies on. In finance, for example, the conventional sources are filings, official price feeds, and economic releases; alternative data covers everything else that carries signal, such as web traffic, app activity, on-chain metrics, social sentiment, prediction-market odds, and product listings. The term is defined by contrast: it is the data you would not find in the standard report but that still informs a decision.
The appeal of alternative data is differentiated insight, and the difficulty is access and integration. The datasets are fragmented across many independent providers, priced inconsistently, and often delivered through bespoke APIs. For an automated consumer that wants to combine several signals, the cost of onboarding each source separately can outweigh the value of any single one.
Proxygate lowers that cost for agents. A wide range of providers, including non-traditional and on-chain sources, list their APIs in one catalog, and an agent calls across them from a single prepaid balance with per-request pricing visible before it spends. Because keys are injected server-side and billing is metered, an agent can sample several alternative-data sources cheaply and keep only the ones that prove useful.
Related concepts
Alternative data: frequently asked questions
Alternative data is non-traditional information used to gain insight beyond standard sources. In finance it includes web, app, on-chain, sentiment, and activity signals that are not found in filings or official price feeds but still inform decisions.
It is fragmented across many independent providers, priced inconsistently, and delivered through bespoke APIs. Onboarding each source separately is costly, which is a barrier for automated consumers that want to combine several signals.
Many providers, including non-traditional and on-chain sources, list in one catalog. An agent calls across them from a single prepaid balance with per-request pricing shown up front, so it can sample sources cheaply and keep only the useful ones.