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A number of people have asked me recently about FutureSource data -- I
thought I'd share my experience for the benefit of all.
FS offers data for TS4 in addition to their proprietary charting packages.
It does not work with TS2000i. I tried running a few symbols via Excel DDE
and Omnicom to 2000i on an second pc, but was not satisfied with the
results. There was talk a year or so ago of FS doing data for 2000i and
doing a networked TS product, but given Omega's new direction, I would
speculate that it will never happen.
FS has its own standalone data management software which is quite old. It
takes quite a while to set up all your symbols initially, but thereafter, it
works well. FS only has commodity, futures (and futures options), index and
forex data. No stocks. No equity options but OEX. Index data is very very
limited compared to most any datafeed. No adv decl for nasdaq for
instance. No SOX, No IIX. Various other obvious things are missing.
Separate files for daily, weekly, monthly, perpetual. Historical data comes
with it. Tell it what you want, and with in a week or so, it will
automatically be saved. What they call perpetual is unadjusted continuous.
When an old contract expires, the new one starts getting added to file.
This is the way their weekly and monthly data works also. I spent a large
amount of time trying to come up with a way to import adjusted data and
concluded that it cannot be done. So it is not a great package to trade EOD
systems.
Intraday data is saved as variable (1 min.) or tick. Variable files are
error corrected -- they broadcast corrections and charts update
automatically. Tick charts are not corrected, however. This can be done
manually, but it is not very user friendly. I don't use that many tick
charts, so not a big deal for me. Every day they broadcast variable refresh
data. If you miss some data during the day, just paste in the data when it
is sent that evening. Not all symbols are included in this refresh data,
but most major ones are. You can request whatever data you need from them
by phone or email 24 hours a day. Tech support is 24 hours a day as well.
Oh, it does not save tick volume as well.
I use a 1 meter dish, and only very rarely have clouds come over thick
enough to stop the broadcast. Reliablity 24 hours a day is the reason I
went with FS (from esignal) and I have not been disappointed.
FS has most, if not all, futures exchanges in the world. Most are available
delayed for free, as is cash forex. Also, they carry things from exchanges
that not all vendors carry. For instance, they have tick-by-tick cash
Nikkei 225 and 300 from Simex that esignal did not carry, Likewise on Eurex,
Liffe, etc.
FS cash forex costs $150 a month extra RT, but it is worth it. Errors are
corrected automatically. You can track individual bank's prices, instead of
just all collectively. A couple of examples: You can make a quote page of
every $/yen quote in the market. Or, I have an account with CMC, which is a
FS contributor. I can chart CMC's prices separately from the
multi-contributor feed.
Overall, I have been very pleased to date with the quality and reliability,
which is the reason I switched. It is more expensive than most TS feeds--
mine runs $270 a month, not counting news, exchange fees or FX. It is by no
means perfect, but it is always there. No more sweating to keep the damn
DSL line up 24 hours a day alone is worth a few extra bucks to me.
Regards,
Chris
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