# Data Streams Best Practices
Source: https://docs.chain.link/data-streams/concepts/best-practices

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt).

This page provides best practices and recommendations for using Chainlink Data Streams effectively in your applications. These practices can help you manage risks, optimize performance, and ensure compliance with market standards.

> **NOTE: Developer Responsibilities**
>
> Make sure to review the <a href="/data-streams/developer-responsibilities">Developer Responsibilities</a> page to
> understand the risks associated with both market integrity and application code.

***

## Real-World Assets (RWA)

For best practices regarding RWA streams:

- **24/5 US Equities**: See the [24/5 US Equities User Guide](/data-streams/rwa-streams/24-5-us-equities-user-guide) for continuous price feed construction, edge cases, and risk management.
- **Market Events**: See the [Handling Market Events](/data-streams/rwa-streams/handling-market-events) guide for market hours, volatility, and corporate actions.

## Tokenized Assets

For best practices regarding stock splits and reverse splits for tokenized assets, please see the [Handling Stock Splits](/data-streams/tokenized-asset-streams/handling-stock-splits) guide.

## Report Timestamps

Each report applies to a span of time defined by `validFromTimestamp` and `observationsTimestamp`, and that span can vary in width. Read both fields from each report rather than assuming a fixed cadence or deriving the window from your own clock. See [How Report Timestamps Work](/data-streams/how-report-timestamps-work) for details, including how gaps between reports are absorbed and how timestamps apply to TWAP streams.

## Rate Limits

Rely on the WebSocket stream for report delivery rather than polling a REST endpoint in a tight loop, and implement exponential backoff on reconnect logic. See the [Rate Limits and Fair Use Policy](/data-streams/rate-limits) page for applicable limits and how to avoid HTTP 429 responses.