A number without an age is half a fact. Funding of 5.5% a year means one thing if it was read a minute ago and another if it was read yesterday. A markets Super Intelligence answers in sentences, and sentences hide ages very well.
What prose loses
A dashboard prints a timestamp near the number. You may ignore it, but it is there. When the same number moves into a paragraph, the timestamp stays behind unless the writer carries it over. The sentence reads as if the number were true now.
This is why the duty falls harder on an SI than on a screen. The more natural the answer sounds, the easier it is to forget that each figure in it was read at some moment in the past.
Three kinds of age
Every reading from NoVo’s MCP & API carries three fields: as_of, age_seconds and as_of_kind. The kind is measured, retrieved or unknown. A measured figure was computed from data held at that moment. A retrieved figure came from a source that publishes on its own schedule. An unknown one has no time anyone can stand behind.
The reasoning behind the fields is in why we publish age_seconds. For an SI the point is simple. A figure fetched a moment ago can still describe last week.
Ages that look alike
Some old numbers are fine. Stock token supply did not change over the weekend of 3 to 4 October 2026, because minting follows market hours. A Friday supply figure quoted on Sunday is old and still correct. A markets SI should say both things.
Some fresh numbers are not fine. A token quote read seconds ago on a Sunday can be very wide, and its midpoint is not a price. NoVo marks a token price that is not the live midpoint with an approximately sign. In prose, the SI says it used the last tight quote.
Averages carry an age too. NoVo’s collector has recorded perp funding and open interest every pass since 4 October 2026. An average over that record covers only that span, and the dashboards label it with the span it really covers. An SI quoting the average should do the same. The difference between resting and broken is covered in delayed versus stale.
What it sounds like
A good answer carries its ages lightly. The perp is up against its close, read a minute ago. Supply is unchanged since Friday, which is expected on a weekend. The open-interest average covers one day, because the record is one day long. None of that is hedging. Each clause tells you how hard you can lean on the figure.
When the age is missing
Ask for it. “How old is that number” is a fair question to put to any markets SI. An honest one answers, or says the age is unknown. If the reply is another confident number, treat the first one with suspicion. A quick routine for doing this is in is this market data stale.
Dr. NoVo reads from the same stamped readings the MCP & API serves. When his record of something is a day old, he says it is a day old.