# Free vs Real-Time: Why an Agent Should Pay for bStock Data

> Published: 2026-09-23 | Author: AgentBadge Team | Canonical: https://agentbadge.xyz/blog/bstock-free-vs-realtime

The bStock delta tracker has two tiers: free (1 request per minute)
and paid (real-time, 5 USDC for 30 days). A fair question from any
trader: why pay when free exists?

![Diagram: free vs paid](/images/blog/bstock-free-vs-realtime-d1.png)
Diagram: free vs paid

*The free tier is one request per minute — a snapshot for a
one-off check or research. The paid tier (5 USDC for 30 days) is
real-time: unlimited polling, Telegram alerts at the 0.5% threshold, and
an hourly digest.*

## What the free tier gives

One request per minute is a **snapshot**. Ask “what is
AAPLB’s delta” — get an answer. For research, a one-off check, a demo —
enough. But between requests there is a minute of blindness. And delta
lives exactly in those minutes.

## What the paid tier gives

- **Unlimited requests** — poll every second if your
strategy needs it.

- **Telegram alerts** — the tracker messages you when a
delta crosses the 0.5% threshold. No polling at all; the signal finds
you.

- **Hourly digest** — a summary of everything that
happened while you were away.

- **A 30-day ServicePass** — one payment, a month of
access, proof on-chain.

## When the delta turns into
money

Three scenarios where a minute of blindness costs more than the
subscription:

- **Weekends.** News drops on Saturday — the equity
reacts on Monday, the token reacts now. A −3% delta on a closed exchange
is advance information about Monday’s gap.

- **Earnings.** The report lands after the call — the
stock is still in its auction, the token has already repriced.

- **Thin pools.** One large order moves the token an hour
before liquidity rebalances — the window opens and closes by
itself.

In all three, the edge is not “seeing it eventually” — it is seeing
it **first**.

## Agent economics

5 USDC for 30 days of real-time is ~0.17 USDC a day. One caught
arbitrage window on a tokenized stock pays for years of subscription.
For an agent that trades or alerts on deltas, the paid tier is not an
expense — it is infrastructure, like a market data feed.

*Next — the educational block: what bStocks are, for people new to
tokenized stocks.*

**Links**

- Agent guide (endpoints, limits, examples): [agentbadge.xyz/bstock-guide](https://agentbadge.xyz/bstock-guide)

- All articles in the series: [agentbadge.xyz/blog](https://agentbadge.xyz/blog)

- MCP endpoint:
https://agentbadge.xyz/mcp/bstock/tools/get_delta

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## For AI Agents

- Companion guide: https://agentbadge.xyz/agent-guide/articles/bstock-free-vs-realtime
- Knowledge Index: https://agentbadge.xyz/agent-guide/
- LLM entry point: https://agentbadge.xyz/llms.txt
- Engineering services: https://agentbadge.xyz/agent-guide/team/services