Aha!! Probably I should change my broker. Thanks for the information!
New fee to pay for live data for futures
- Thread starter 1a2b3cppp
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It's probably a little more clear if you realize that in the view of the exchanges, data is what they are selling; or at least it is one of their most valuable products. It is not something like a price tag at WalMart in their view.
When people got together to buy and sell stocks in New York or pork bellies in Chicago, the really great value added to the economy was "price discovery." We all know what a bushel of wheat is worth (for the moment) just because the CBOT has these trades going on. This, for example, would make it hard for the local grain elevator to take advantage of the local farmer. We've got so much price discovery now-a-days that it takes a moment to remember what it's like when you don't know what something is "worth" in the open market. You get a little of the experience when you go to sell your house. Just what is this thing worth? Did I sell for too much or too little? You're never quite sure.
Anyway, the exchanges have prices. That's what they are selling, and they expect to get paid for it. It is exceedingly valuable information to traders. Why should they give it away?
I understand that they are trying to screw everybody for as much as they can. Welcome to capitalism.
When people got together to buy and sell stocks in New York or pork bellies in Chicago, the really great value added to the economy was "price discovery." We all know what a bushel of wheat is worth (for the moment) just because the CBOT has these trades going on. This, for example, would make it hard for the local grain elevator to take advantage of the local farmer. We've got so much price discovery now-a-days that it takes a moment to remember what it's like when you don't know what something is "worth" in the open market. You get a little of the experience when you go to sell your house. Just what is this thing worth? Did I sell for too much or too little? You're never quite sure.
Anyway, the exchanges have prices. That's what they are selling, and they expect to get paid for it. It is exceedingly valuable information to traders. Why should they give it away?
I understand that they are trying to screw everybody for as much as they can. Welcome to capitalism.
Its only expensive because they got a monopoly on it.
Look at live FX price data also exceedingly valuable information to traders who trade FX, but is given away as no one party 'owns' the trading in it.
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Yes, you are quite right. It is monopoly pricing. Perhaps it should be regulated as such.
I was thinking of another argument. Traders could say, "Look, those are not the exchanges prices. They are our prices. I have a price when I make a trade. The party on the other side has a price. What right does the exchange have to appropriate our prices and resell them?" Etc.
The exchange could have several responses. "Well, you agree to it when you sign all those papers." Yes, but only because you have disproportional bargaining power. The courts will look carefully at this.
"We are not selling prices. We are selling distribution of prices." (The CME does operate the world's largest data center, I believe.) OK, but they still are not your prices. That's like arguing that you can pick up widgets at my widget factor and resell them because you operate a truck line."
"No-one 'owns' prices. They are just out there for the taking." Well, then why are you charging me for them? "We are not charging for prices. We are charging for distribution."
And so forth and so on. A sort of interesting argument
Well, I've been trading futures at IB for some years now, and I don't think I've ever paid a data fee. It does, however, depend on what you're trading and how often.
IB's data charges have gotten somewhat complicated as they try to deal with recent exchange changes, but if you trade Globex futures and generate $30/month in commissions, IB waives the fee (you sign up for the U.S. Securities and Futures Value Bundle). Less than $30 and it's a $10/month fee. That gets you the top of the book quotes. For $5/month additional (not waived) you can get the full depth of market. That's as close as you can get to free futures data that I know of.
You should note that many people don't like IB data because it isn't tick by tick. Myself, I don't need that.