Market Data Platforms

The Bloomberg terminal is without doubt the most widely used by professionals. It has stood the test of time as the company has invested millions of dollars to ensure it remained the ultimate data platform. It offers data on all major asset classes and over the counter markets. Its has an execution management system to route order to brokers.It has it own proprietary newswire as well as the biggest attraction of its own instant chat facility.Bloomberg is and always has been strict when it come to contracts. The terminal comes on two a year contract and stand to cost over $2100 per month (excluding exchange fees!) for a single user. If one takes mulitple terminals than there is a small discount. Bloomberg has the largest market share in the segmant with around 325000 terminals in use. Whilst it has all the bells and whistles the cost of the terminal does take it out of the average retail trader. To take full advantage of the terminal one needs to make full use of its in depth data of all asset classes. In most cases only a small fraction of its capabilities are ever used which makes it rather more expensive compared to its peers and the competition is catching up fast in offering similar data for a fraction the Bloomberg terminal. Bloomberg offers its data on mobile devices and also trading functionality through its execution management system.

   Iress an Australian market data vendor which has its own execution platforms. Proquote is competitive when it comes to pricing and is very user friendly as well as been rich in functionality. Due to its lower pricing its widely used by hedge funds, wealth managers and Private investors a like. Proquote is very user friendly and eligible clients can be upgraded to route orders directly to their brokers and retail service providers via the terminal. It offers  a comprehensive data base both with historic and real time news and price feed. It does offer cross market data and international data is offered from its Global variant.

Infront is a leading market data and trading solutions provider for finance professionals. It provides a unique combination of real-time global market data, news, analytics and trading tools. With proven solutions developed over 20 years by industry experts - and with product development driven by our clients' business needs - we have delivered the technology to keep our clients ahead of the game. Over 20,000 subscribers in more than 50 countries worldwide rely upon it's services. The Infront terminal has become the most intuitive and flexible financial data terminal available, helping institutions to reduce costs, adapt to fast changing market requirements and to be able to work more effectively with the increasing amount of information available

Fidessa is UK based and is used  mainly by tier one banks, its primarily an execution workstation but has the functionality to add newswires and has a good charting package and again is actually very competitive on price. It's very reliable in terms of its performance. If you are looking for an execution platform  this one may well be the right choice. Some brokers are now offering their clients the terminal to trade as this can cut out the cost of employing their own terminals and thereby cutting their research and development overall expense.

 This platform  started off in 2014. Its founder is a former head of global commodities desk at Bloomberg. He left to start up a new platform which he felt could offer similar functionality to the more expensive terminals and in doing so has managed to win over many large investment banks as well as hedge funds. The main selling point is its price. For around $95 per month you get a whole lot of information. Its will offer more as it expands its client base. It is U.S. based platform but offer international data too although the focus is the U.S.

Metastock Xenith is rebranded as Refinitiv Xenith after  Blackstone took a 51% stake in the Financial and Risk division of Thomson Reuters. The Xenith platform is for retail traders and offers a very functional platform with comprehensive reference data and real time pricing. It's very competitive on pricing and is ideal for traders who demand the best from the world's leading brand. Reuters continues to supply the newsfeed. Xenith is a slim down version of the Eikon platform which is aimed at institutions and professional traders.

Refinitiv is the company created after Blackstone took 51% of Thomson Reuters Financial and risk division. The agreement was that Reuters would continue to provide the news feed to the Eikon Terminal. The Eikon terminal is multi asset class market data platform which has real times prices and reference data. Its nearest rival is the Bloomberg terminal. It offers very similar functionality to that of its competitor. It has it own messenger service as well an execution management service (EMS),Redi platform which is now in the process of being integrated into Eikon. This will offer an integrated seamless flow of executing trades directly from within Eikon. The Eikon platform has different versions at various price points. This ensures that you only pay for what asset classes you need rather than paying for the top version and only using 10% of its functionality. In terms of prices its top variant is pitched slightly below that of its nearest rival Bloomberg.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the private capital markets.

Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $200 billion in assets under advisement and management as of March 31, 2017. The company has operations in 27 countries

Alpha terminal is rich in functionality and has excellent charting package as well as news feed. It has a back testing facility and data mining to screen for certain criteria that one may be seeking to evaluate. It's got possibly one of the best level two data screens which are well laid out and very effective to gauge sentiment of a particular instrument. Alpha Terminal is part of  the software group owned by ShareScope.

This platform is  popular amongst  private investors. It offers all the data you need and can add or delete the services as you go along. It very competitive on price and its charting functionality is  amongst the best. Worth looking at if you are looking for a market data platform with routing capabilities.

This is a platform which has been around from the days when it used to send data via the television aerial and moved over to the internet about a decade ago. Today the platform is far more robust and tends to focus more the technical analysis although has a news feed as well market data. Well worth the money. It has many clients including banks as its clients.

Sharescope remains in demand amongst private investors. It offers outstanding value for money and has several products to cater for investors. Its products have excellent functionality and would give  a strong run  in terms of costs when its come to comparing some top tier platforms. Without doubt  the most popular software product when it comes to historical and real time prices as well as excellent charting packages in the U.K.