Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl • Hacker News Board

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#31

Post by apaprocki » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 2:35 PM UTC

Ecio78 wrote: post #22

justincormack wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before this, even if you paid you still did not get api access. Or any documentation. They act as if it is still an analogue teletext service right down to the ghastly UI. The terms of service forbid you from storing the data. This seems to be some sort of tentative step out of the twentieth century.

afaik (please somebody correct me if i'm wrong) if you pay for a bloomberg workstation you can download API and use it on your system, but you're limited to using it on a licensed workstation (you cant interface another system in order to pull these data) and you cant pass it without elaborating them so, as example: NO you cant use a program on the licensed workstation that sucks data and push them to a database that…

This is basically correct. Anyone with a terminal can program against it and use the "desktop" API (the SDK connecting to the terminal). The same for any customer with just an API appliance.

To extend your example, some customers use it to process realtime data, mix in their own data that they do not want to leave their network, then perform some kind of algo on it, and ultimately use the API SDK to feed the results back to Bloomberg for publishing. The SDK is used by publishers who feed content to us -- it isn't just for receiving data.

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#32

Post by apaprocki » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 2:37 PM UTC

chollida1 wrote: post #13

brownegg wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Of course) the data won't be free. They don't get it for free--"tape" fees are a major source of exchange revenue. (Although it's possible some delayed feeds may be available, etc.)

> They don't get it for free--"tape" fees are a major source of exchange revenue. This is the truth. It's pretty outrageous the prices the exchanges charge for real time data. Though to be fair they are pretty good about letting you pay for what you want. Most offer: - 15 minute delayed quotes, - real time top of book, - depth of book and the - raw fast data feed with not additions. Pick what you want.

Anecdote: I once asked how much it would cost if I enabled myself for realtime access to every exchange we offer and I was given the ballpark figure that it would cost the company $80k/year. Exchanges charge a lot.

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#33

Post by apaprocki » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 2:38 PM UTC

alexchamberlain wrote: post #5

brador wrote: post #3

Direct link: http://open.bloomberg.com/ But why make the docs .pdf?!

This is a massive step for Bloomberg; let's give them a chance to improve over time. One day they might make an appearance on GitHub...

Already working on it.. I wrote a Node.js module for the API which I am most likely putting on there soon :)

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#34

Post by apaprocki » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 2:52 PM UTC

steve8918 wrote: post #27

half_marathon wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the cost depend on the volume of data accessed or is it just a fixed amount per month?

The cost of what, IQFeed? For IQFeed it's a fixed amount per month. I have no idea on Bloomberg.

There is a monthly cost and also tiered, metered usage. Keep in mind this isn't just for accessing North American exchanges. Our data customers can access all data we have, from the 110+ countries we collect feeds from.

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#35

Post by gersh » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 2:58 PM UTC

What is the cheapest way to get the actual data? A number of years back, opentick had a pretty cheap API for getting market data. However, they have shutdown. Is there anyone out there with a good api, and relatively cheap data feed?

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#36

Post by Ecio78 » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 3:05 PM UTC

apaprocki wrote: post #28

travisglines wrote: post #7

I'm not convinced that they're actually offering the data for free here. Merely the use of the API is now free (You used to have to actually purchase Bloomberg terminals/hardware to use it). I've emailed both of their contact addresses requesting more information, will edit this as soon as I get a response.

Disclaimer: I work at Bloomberg. The point of opening up the API is to allow products to be developed around it without any restrictions on shipping our code within the 3rd party application. That basically sums it up. In order to receive data you need to have a data subscription and we pass through all exchange fees that exchanges charge depending on which particular pieces of data you would like to access. (We serv…

Thanks apaprocki for the clarification. Dont you think that an additional step would be have a public API directly accessible through internet? In the past customers had to buy dedicated lines for your service, then BLB gave the opportunity to use internet connections, but with desktop software or appliance inhouse. The next step will be giving direct access to api from the internet without other software involved (opening probably in this way more market for new web applications/services integration)

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#37

Post by joshbaptiste » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 3:05 PM UTC

Permit wrote: post #4

Wow this looks pretty awesome. As a student who is interested in relating programming to finance, this definitely looks like it takes care of some barriers that were previously in place. I'm extremely excited to look into this.

Then why not just learn with Interactive Brokers API, you get access to their TWS test system API which is great for learning purposes.

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#38

Post by rjbrock » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 3:06 PM UTC

apaprocki wrote: post #28

travisglines wrote: post #7

I'm not convinced that they're actually offering the data for free here. Merely the use of the API is now free (You used to have to actually purchase Bloomberg terminals/hardware to use it). I've emailed both of their contact addresses requesting more information, will edit this as soon as I get a response.

Disclaimer: I work at Bloomberg. The point of opening up the API is to allow products to be developed around it without any restrictions on shipping our code within the 3rd party application. That basically sums it up. In order to receive data you need to have a data subscription and we pass through all exchange fees that exchanges charge depending on which particular pieces of data you would like to access. (We serv…

Quick Question: Do I have to run this from the terminal (windows) or can I run it from a remote machine and connect to the terminal?

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#39

Post by half_marathon » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 3:06 PM UTC

apaprocki wrote: post #34

steve8918 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of what, IQFeed? For IQFeed it's a fixed amount per month. I have no idea on Bloomberg.

There is a monthly cost and also tiered, metered usage. Keep in mind this isn't just for accessing North American exchanges. Our data customers can access all data we have, from the 110+ countries we collect feeds from.

Thanks for the response. Can you give a pointer to the Bloomberg pricing info, to get an idea of the fixed + variable costs?

Re: Bloomberg market data API made public for C++, .Net, Java, Perl

#40

Post by paperwork » Wed, Feb 01, 2012, 3:18 PM UTC

Bloomberg isn't offering this data for free. They can't offer full, real-time data for free.

I'm surprised how many people on HN are interested in this. If you are looking for real-time feeds, the best vendor I've found is http://www.nanex.net/ . They offer the whole feed, real-time, over the internet. Unfortunately you have to access it through their windows based dll. I can't understand why they don't have a native linux client...but they don't.

A very interesting source of data is BATS. I believe you can get free data feeds from BATS. Since they are a very liquid exchange, in many instances their prices can be proxies for the full market. Unfortunately, you need industrial strength bandwidth to access that data (you can't just get it over the internet).

I believe there is space in the market for another market data vendor. Use good compression to drastically reduce bandwidth (see nanex), provide diverse client APIs (NOT nanex), slowly start to aggregate feeds from international exchanges, provide intelligent routing (100 clients in china should not make 100 connections to a NYC data center, they should connect to a local node), offer limited access to no cost exchanges, etc.

Unfortunately vendor agreements for exchanges are expensive enough that they are out of reach for bootstrapped operations.