diff --git a/src/TickerQ.Utilities/TickerHelper.cs b/src/TickerQ.Utilities/TickerHelper.cs
index e4456e07..41681334 100644
--- a/src/TickerQ.Utilities/TickerHelper.cs
+++ b/src/TickerQ.Utilities/TickerHelper.cs
@@ -73,8 +73,14 @@ public static byte[] CreateTickerRequest<T>(T data)
 
         public static T ReadTickerRequest<T>(byte[] gzipBytes)
         {
+            if (gzipBytes == null || gzipBytes.Length == 0)
+                return default;
+
             var serializedObject = ReadTickerRequestAsString(gzipBytes);
-            
+
+            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(serializedObject))
+                return default;
+
             return JsonSerializer.Deserialize<T>(serializedObject, RequestJsonSerializerOptions);
         }
         
diff --git a/tests/TickerQ.Tests/TickerHelperTests.cs b/tests/TickerQ.Tests/TickerHelperTests.cs
index 56936dbb..bd122f55 100644
--- a/tests/TickerQ.Tests/TickerHelperTests.cs
+++ b/tests/TickerQ.Tests/TickerHelperTests.cs
@@ -151,6 +151,70 @@ public void ReadTickerRequestAsString_WithCompression_ThrowsForNonGzipBytes()
 
     #endregion
 
+    #region ReadTickerRequest - Null/Empty Input
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void ReadTickerRequest_NullBytes_ReturnsDefault()
+    {
+        TickerHelper.UseGZipCompression = false;
+
+        var result = TickerHelper.ReadTickerRequest<TestPayload>(null);
+
+        Assert.Null(result);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void ReadTickerRequest_EmptyBytes_ReturnsDefault()
+    {
+        TickerHelper.UseGZipCompression = false;
+
+        var result = TickerHelper.ReadTickerRequest<TestPayload>(Array.Empty<byte>());
+
+        Assert.Null(result);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void ReadTickerRequest_NullBytes_NullableValueType_ReturnsDefault()
+    {
+        TickerHelper.UseGZipCompression = false;
+
+        var result = TickerHelper.ReadTickerRequest<int?>(null);
+
+        Assert.Null(result);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void ReadTickerRequest_EmptyBytes_WithCompression_ReturnsDefault()
+    {
+        TickerHelper.UseGZipCompression = true;
+
+        var result = TickerHelper.ReadTickerRequest<TestPayload>(Array.Empty<byte>());
+
+        Assert.Null(result);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void ReadTickerRequest_WhitespaceBytes_ReturnsDefault()
+    {
+        TickerHelper.UseGZipCompression = false;
+
+        var result = TickerHelper.ReadTickerRequest<int?>(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("   "));
+
+        Assert.Null(result);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void ReadTickerRequest_WhitespaceBytes_ReferenceType_ReturnsDefault()
+    {
+        TickerHelper.UseGZipCompression = false;
+
+        var result = TickerHelper.ReadTickerRequest<TestPayload>(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(""));
+
+        Assert.Null(result);
+    }
+
+    #endregion
+
     #region Round-Trip Tests
 
     [Fact]