bloomberg terminal- worth the $$$ ??

If you are getting Bloomberg primarily because you think the news service is faster, I would disagree. It is fast, and sometimes it is faster(than say Bridge/Reuters), but not always.

There are occasions where Bloomberg will put out a report days after news has been announced, you will trade off it(thinking, hey this story hasn't hit other wires yet) then do another search and finally realize the story is actually 3 days old and Bloomberg didn't qualify "Update". That's a fun trade....

The BTRD platform is pretty good, although I am not a huge fan of the layout(just the way it appears to the eye, I prefer ARCA or INCA).

It is good for descriptions, historical info, IOI's, great for options. Messaging very good, forex, commodities, fixed income, all good to very good if you need that stuff. Also, even with the new "Launchpad" rollout, the thing is not nearly as user friendly as it should be.

Speed on news varies as to which is the fastest, IMO. If that is the only reason you are getting it, I would not.

I think if you trade enough on BTRD they will pay for your terminal, ask your rep. If not, someone will soft dollar it for you, probably at 2:1 maybe 1.5:1. I would try your DVP brokers rather than your clearing....

The charts, they pretty much suck.
 
Quote from Judge Smales:

If you are getting Bloomberg primarily because you think the news service is faster, I would disagree. It is fast, and sometimes it is faster(than say Bridge/Reuters), but not always.

There are occasions where Bloomberg will put out a report days after news has been announced, you will trade off it(thinking, hey this story hasn't hit other wires yet) then do another search and finally realize the story is actually 3 days old and Bloomberg didn't qualify "Update". That's a fun trade....

The BTRD platform is pretty good, although I am not a huge fan of the layout(just the way it appears to the eye, I prefer ARCA or INCA).

It is good for descriptions, historical info, IOI's, great for options. Messaging very good, forex, commodities, fixed income, all good to very good if you need that stuff. Also, even with the new "Launchpad" rollout, the thing is not nearly as user friendly as it should be.

Speed on news varies as to which is the fastest, IMO. If that is the only reason you are getting it, I would not.

I think if you trade enough on BTRD they will pay for your terminal, ask your rep. If not, someone will soft dollar it for you, probably at 2:1 maybe 1.5:1. I would try your DVP brokers rather than your clearing....

The charts, they pretty much suck.
More...

Bloomberg is better suited as an advanced analytics package. I've watched Bloomberg, DJ, Reuters and little ol briefing.com side by side....it seems random as to who breaks any given story first. If news is important to you, you better have em all. Otherwise stick with DJ or super cheap Briefing.
 
Bloomberg has its origin in the fixed income arena, but in the nineties they started to expand literally to any kind of relevant information for the financial markets. They are definitely ahead of Reuters and Dow in speed and coverage - ask these two about Bloomberg and they will panic.
The Bloomberg Screen itself is something one must get used to. It is not at all an inuitive system. And it has nothing to do with Windows logic. That is because Blomberg started in the eighties when MS was not in the market and they had their own terminals they shipped to clients. In the nineties they put in on windows, but it has still the same logic as in the old days. So you have to struggle in the beginning to find what you need. Once you know how to get a thing it is easy, since you do not need the mouse at all and can do everything with keys. The Bloomberg helpdesk is rather ambitious in answering questions online and per phone.

They have a rather good historic database covering prices and fundamentals, but they just have sixty days or something intraday data. They have connections to Thompson, so you should get earningsforecasts as well.

Their spreadsheetConnection works fine and is sufficient if you do not download too much. If you need more there is C-API.

I have the feeling that they are sometimes maybe a little faster than eSignal, but thats just a feeling, nothing we proved.

Trading via Bloomberg accounts for signicant share in total volume at the Nasdaq - we do not use it for that, but I think it is alright.

We decided to use them and eSignal, the latter because we found it easier to program our stuff for that (though we did not spend to much time trying on Bloomberg, since eSignal is rather cheap).

They have their Cons, but we found the Pros make it.

peace
 
I found Bloomberg news not much better, if at all than briefing which is 10/month and charts not nearly as good as esignal or realtick.
 
Quote from TG:

I found Bloomberg news not much better, if at all than briefing which is 10/month and charts not nearly as good as esignal or realtick.
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I disagree with this. Briefing is a supplement to Bloomberg. There is no comparison. Therefore, can't compare cost either. Bloomberg won't get everything first but will beat all the other news services combined when it comes to speed.
 
Alternative strategy is to get breifing.com delayed on yahoo for free, you will definetly be the last person in the world to know, and then short everything that has gone up and vice versa. $1700 is your stop!
 
Quote from just21:

Alternative strategy is to get breifing.com delayed on yahoo for free, you will definetly be the last person in the world to know, and then short everything that has gone up and vice versa. $1700 is your stop!
More...
:D

nitro
 
have had it for a few months and hasn't helped me. But i am not much of a news trader. I trade off of what i see on my quote screens. And havn't trained myself to keep an eye on what bloomberg is spitting out.
 
BLOOMBERG NEWS THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
Headline Wins over Dow Jones:
-- BOJ LOWERS ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT FOR JAPAN
-- NEW ZEALAND'S CENTRAL BANK LEAVES KEY INTEREST RATE AT 5.75%
-- SAINSBURY 1H PRETAX EX-ITEMS 342M PNDS; ANALYSTS EXPECTED
339M (win over Reuters and Dow)
UK COMPANY COVERAGE: By 9am this morning, BN wrote 15 stories
based on company press releases filed with the London Stock
Exchange. Reuters wrote 8 stories in the same time.
Story Exclusives:
-- SBC may sell its Sterling software unit to Bain Capital.
This story highlighs the trend of LBO firms buying assets from
cash-strapped companies. {SBC equity TCNI LBO <GO>}

_______
 
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