Every Pyth feed represents one instrument and emits a value with three components: the aggregate price, a confidence interval (how tightly publishers agreed), and a status flag (trading, halted, unknown). The confidence interval is what makes Pyth's design honest. When publishers disagree or volatility spikes, the interval widens; consumers can choose to ignore reads that exceed their tolerance.
Anatomy of a feed
- Identifier: a 32-byte feed ID, used to address the feed across every chain
- Aggregate price: median across publishers, scaled by an exponent
- Confidence interval: half-width around the price; tighter = stronger agreement
- Publish time: when the latest update was signed
- Status: Trading, Halted, Unknown, or Auction
Crypto vs traditional markets
Crypto feeds publish continuously, 24/7. Equity, FX, and commodity feeds reflect their underlying market's hours, so they show Halted or Auction outside trading sessions. Some assets (e.g. perpetual indices, 24/7 oil) are synthetic continuous feeds Pyth constructs for the on-chain context. The feed page on Pythscan shows the status and any caveats.
Sponsored feeds
A subset of feeds are listed as "sponsored": a third party covers the cost of running the publisher contributions and aggregation in exchange for guaranteed listing. The economics don't affect data quality; they only affect which feeds get added.