Trades, orders, and physicals: the three data layers trade surveillance needs

Most surveillance platforms in energy and commodity markets are certified on order feeds only. Trade feeds are rarely part of standard integration, and physical data is almost never ingested at all. That gap defines what a surveillance program can and cannot see, and it is rarely tested before it becomes a regulatory problem.

Risk-system data does not close that gap. Risk systems transform trades for P&L and position management. That transformation is useful for its intended purpose, but it can obscure the original market event that surveillance needs to examine, particularly where a give-up, allocation, or exchange-for-physical trade sits between the original order and the final position.