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Adam Hardy wrote:
>
> All,
> is there anybody using Bridge End-of-day data, the Knight Ridder company
> spin-off ?
> .....
>
I've used Bridge (formerly Knight Ridder) for 3 years now.
I have found their downloading process to be very reliable. You use
their downloader, not Omega's. The nice thing about this is that you
can download 2000 contracts without any nonsense. I maintain the
"portfolio" i.e., the contracts I want data for, in the Bridge program.
I have had no problems using the "pro" format in TS. The Bridge data
distn program can save the data in other formats as well.
I think their server was down only once in the last 3 years. They have
an 800 number for accessing the data so you are not reliant on the
internet. I virtually always get on in the first attempt, which I
usually do at 7-8:00 ET, but used to do earlier. The downloading of all
commodities, options, volatilities, and a list of their news stories
from the day (about 90 pgs.) takes about 2-3 minutes. The distribution
of commodity data (not options) takes a couple of minutes. (I currently
only store the raw option data, and don't distribute that.) There is a
data editing program which I've only used once or twice for manually
correcting errors. I think it *may* be able to build continuous
contracts manually, but I'm not sure. A nearest future file can be
maintained automatically. You can download up to two weeks of raw data
if you missed a day, but you cannot download historical data. (They do
have a new website I think, I don't know what this has other than
charts.) The data can be stored in a wide variety of formats. If you
use the graphing program they supply or sell for $50, you must store the
data in their own format (which TS supports).
I really don't compare their prices with other sources. Obvious errors
are rare. In "normal" contracts these are repaired usually the next
day, apparently by a line in the next day's file. In less popular
contracts, (Midam, peso for ex. ) I've seen a couple errors not get
fixed.
Only total volume and OI is supplied; this can be put in all contracts
if you want. The data includes the night sessions. I don't believe
there are alternative symbols with only day data.
When I was paying attention to it more a year or so ago, the option data
had some problems with the price scale changing or the protocol for the
naming of the data file switching midstream, resulting in discontinuous
file(s) for one option. Also some strike prices/exp. months were
missing. I have used option data a bit recently, there still seems to
be some problems.
I have had so little reason to contact tech. support, I can't really
comment on that! When my computer crashed they overnighted me a new
copy of the program at no cost which is commendable.
In the morning you can subscribe to the fundamental commentary written
by Hightower, greatly discounted. Several other services (1 other
advisory and 2 mechanical systems) are offerred with slight discounts.
I believe "major markets" runs $360/year and "all markets" runs $600
(?).
Conrad Bowers
[no rel. to Bridge ex. as a customer]
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