Embodiments include methods and systems for processing XML documents. One embodiment is a system that includes a tokenizer configured to identify tokens in an XML document. A plurality of speculative processing modules are configured to receive the tokens and to at least partially process the XML document and to provide data indicative of the XML document. A first module is configured to perform further processing of the XML document using the data indicative of the XML document and configured to output the processed XML document. Each of the plurality of speculative processing modules is configured to asynchronously provide the data indicative of the XML document to the first module. Other embodiments include method and systems for performing the speculative processing.