Upcoming changes to the Reference API

We're introducing several changes to the corporate actions and security master data available through Databento's Reference API, including new functionality and refinements to existing behavior.

Depending on your integration, you may need to make updates to maintain compatibility. All changes will be available for testing in our preview environment starting November 10, 2026, before taking effect in the Reference API on December 10, 2026.

We're updating thenasdaq_symbolfield in both corporate actions and security master data to match the Nasdaq symbol formatting already used by Databento's historical and live APIs.

Currently, some NYSE-listed securities with suffix codes, including share classes, are returned without the separators used in Nasdaq's symbol format. Following this change, these symbols will include the appropriate separators and will also be searchable in the updated format.

If your integration expects symbols without separators, you'll need to update it to support the new format.

Corporate action announcement (ANN) records will support a new note field within the event_info object, providing additional information about an announcement when available.

{
  "ts_record": "2025-09-09T12:08:06Z",
  "event_unique_id": "U-10020007323097855-15664794",
  "event_id": "E-97855-ANN",
  "listing_id": "L-15664794",
  "listing_group_id": "LG-5664794",
  "security_id": "S-73230",
  "issuer_id": "I-24972",
  "event_action": "I",
  "event": "ANN",
  "symbol": "INFY",
  "event_date_label": "notification_date",
  "event_date": "2025-09-08",
  "event_created_date": "2025-09-09",
  "notification_date": "2025-09-08",
  "event_info": {
    "note": "BM to be held on 11/09/2025, to consider a proposal for buyback of fully paid-up EQS of the Co."
  }
}

Takeover (TKOVR) records in corporate actions data are currently associated with the company being acquired, while spinoff (SOFF) records are associated with the parent company.

Following this change, you'll be able to query these records using either company's symbol, provided both companies are identified in the underlying data.

For example, the following request searches for takeover events involving Paramount Skydance (PSKY):

curl -X POST 'https://hist.databento.com/v0/corporate_actions.get_range' \
  -u $DATABENTO_API_KEY: \
  -d symbols="PSKY" \
  -d stype_in=raw_symbol \
  -d start=2026-01-01 \
  -d end=2026-08-31 \
  -d events=TKOVR \
  -d countries=US

The response includes a takeover event involving Warner Bros. Discovery (issuer_name), with Paramount Skydance as the acquiring company.

{
  "event_id": "E-39748-TKOVR",
  "listing_id": "L-1376316",
  "listing_group_id": "LG-376316",
  "security_id": "S-264274",
  "issuer_id": "I-92034",
  "event_action": "I",
  "event": "TKOVR",
  "event_subtype": "TEND",
  "event_date_label": "close_date",
  "event_date": "2026-01-08",
  "event_created_date": "2025-12-09",
  "effective_date": "2025-12-08",
  "issuer_name": "Warner Bros. Discovery Inc",
  "symbol": "PSKY",
  "nasdaq_symbol": "WBD"
}

When a corporate action changes a company's ticker symbol or ISIN, API requests using the new identifier may return a 422 error until another corporate action is recorded under it.

With this update, you can request the company's corporate action history using the new identifier immediately, including the event that introduced it.

For example, if a company's ticker changes from OLDSYM to NEWSYM, you can use NEWSYM to request the related corporate actions:

curl -X POST 'https://hist.databento.com/v0/corporate_actions.get_range' \
  -u $DATABENTO_API_KEY: \
  -d symbols="NEWSYM" \
  -d stype_in=raw_symbol \
  -d start=2026-08-01

This eliminates the need to know the previous identifier or wait for a subsequent corporate action to access the company's history.

The listing_status field in security master data currently reflects a listing's most recent status across its historical records.

Following this change, each record will reflect the listing's status at the corresponding point in time. For example, if a security was listed in 2020 and delisted in 2025, historical records from 2020 will show it as listed, not delisted. This supports historical analysis and backtesting by preserving the listing status applicable to each period.

Listings that previously appeared with a pending (P) status will also appear as listed beginning on the record's start_date.

If your integration relies on the latest listing_status value being reflected across historical records, or expects pending (P) values, you'll need to update your logic accordingly.

Preview requests follow the same corporate actions and security master subscription coverage as the Reference API. To use it, point your Reference API client at the preview gateway, hist-preview.databento.com:

import databento as db

client = db.Reference(gateway="hist-preview.databento.com")

• November 10, 2026: The updated data is available for testing in the preview environment.
• December 10, 2026: The changes take effect in the Reference API, and the preview environment closes.