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Comment by travisglines | Hacker News Reader

I'm not convinced that they're actually offering the data for free here. Merely the use of the API is now free (You used to have to actually purchase Bloomberg terminals/hardware to use it). I've emailed both of their contact addresses requesting more information, will edit this as soon as I get a response.

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Disclaimer: I work at Bloomberg.

The point of opening up the API is to allow products to be developed around it without any restrictions on shipping our code within the 3rd party application. That basically sums it up.

In order to receive data you need to have a data subscription and we pass through all exchange fees that exchanges charge depending on which particular pieces of data you would like to access. (We serve 350+ exchanges over this API)

Previously, the 3rd party app market was a bit restricted because app developers themselves couldn't necessarily bundle our SDK into their product due to the restrictive licensing and it was a hassle for the ecosystem of devs who write apps in this space. This makes it easier for them to build and ship products.

In order to become a data customer, you can either talk to a terminal with the SDK, or we sell a managed appliance that only serves the data. The SDK can talk to either without configuring it differently. All the rules on distributing the data apply no matter how you get it because the sources of the data (exchanges) are very, very restrictive about specific use cases of their data. The contracts spell out exactly who can place the numbers where and for what purpose. Basically, no matter who you get data from, displaying it publicly anywhere or distributing it as any part of service requires special legal contracts.

Thanks apaprocki for the clarification. Dont you think that an additional step would be have a public API directly accessible through internet? In the past customers had to buy dedicated lines for your service, then BLB gave the opportunity to use internet connections, but with desktop software or appliance inhouse. The next step will be giving direct access to api from the internet without other software involved (opening probably in this way more market for new web applications/services integration)

Short answer.. I'm working on it :) I want to see it happen, but obviously can't guarantee it.

Quick Question: Do I have to run this from the terminal (windows) or can I run it from a remote machine and connect to the terminal?

You can run on any remote machine and connect to the terminal or managed appliance as long as your usage complies with the data license.

Yeah I think in retrospect this comment was sort of silly. We all read this post hoping that they were giving away a real time free financial data API (that would be huge), but really that's how they make money.

They just want to change their model a bit and have everyone able to access it easily by becoming a data API customer. It's probably a good move for them but I don't like the way they and the press covering this aren't mentioning that all it is is access to the same API as before without having to purchase the terminal now. (this is conjecture as I still haven't heard back)

Edit ... their response that confirms it:

    Hello Travis,
    Thank you for your inquiry.

    The Open BLPAPI initiative is meant to present the API as a free-use technology, 
    but the Bloomberg content and data services from Bloomberg 
    are still licensed products. 
    Our goal is to give you the freedom to develop applications using the API, 
    and once subscribed to a licensed data 
    service from Bloomberg you would be able to access the content.

    Regards,
    Bloomberg Open Market Data Initiative

So, what's the difference between this and the current (previous?) access model where you use their already existing API to interact with their systems? The only difference seems that they have published the API and you dont need to have a real bloomberg machine in order to build your code around them.. am i wrong?

Before this, even if you paid you still did not get api access. Or any documentation. They act as if it is still an analogue teletext service right down to the ghastly UI. The terms of service forbid you from storing the data. This seems to be some sort of tentative step out of the twentieth century.

afaik (please somebody correct me if i'm wrong) if you pay for a bloomberg workstation you can download API and use it on your system, but you're limited to using it on a licensed workstation (you cant interface another system in order to pull these data) and you cant pass it without elaborating them

so, as example:

NO you cant use a program on the licensed workstation that sucks data and push them to a database that is used to power a website that shows stock prices

NO you cant get the data from that workstation from other computers via API

YES you can create a custom C++ program that runs on your licensed bloomberg workstation that get data via API, elaborate them with your own algo and give you signals for buy/sell (or maybe create a report that you send to your customers)

This is basically correct. Anyone with a terminal can program against it and use the "desktop" API (the SDK connecting to the terminal). The same for any customer with just an API appliance.

To extend your example, some customers use it to process realtime data, mix in their own data that they do not want to leave their network, then perform some kind of algo on it, and ultimately use the API SDK to feed the results back to Bloomberg for publishing. The SDK is used by publishers who feed content to us -- it isn't just for receiving data.

The market data feed and the terminal are two separate products, priced and sold independently.

Bloomberg Professional (aka Terminal): http://www.bloomberg.com/professional/

Enterprise Solutions: http://www.bloomberg.com/enterprise/ http://www.bloomberg.com/enterprise/enterprise_products/data...

The latter obviously provides programmatic access to the real-time data, whereas the former is mostly intended for homo sapiens users.

You never needed a terminal in order to use our API. We sell a managed 2U appliance that either the customer or we can host and it only serves the data feed.

The press release, http://open.bloomberg.com/pdf/bloomberg-open-pr.pdf, clarifies this. There's a footnote at the end.

"Bloomberg is offering its programming interface (BLPAPI) under a free-use agreement. This does not apply to any content."

What am I supposed to do with a free programming interface if I have no access to the data? Maybe they want to "force" other market data providers to define a common standard for this kind of API? Or maybe they hope it will bring more third-party partners interfacing with their systems? I dont understand if they have also "test feed" that you can use to develop without an expensive agreement (afaik a bloomberg machine+service costs around 20k$/year)

EDIT: from one of their docs: "Bloomberg customers, non-Bloomberg users, vendors and third-party application developers can now adopt the interface for their own use." and "Furthermore, Bloomberg is evolving its interfaces into candidates for an open standard. Under this initiative, an independent committee would be formed to manage the future development of BLPAPI, while ensuring its stability and openness" http://open.bloomberg.com/pdf/bbg-eps-open-market-data.pdf

sorry for not reading it before

Ok this example probably clarifies the rationale:

"A programming interface that is proprietary severely limits the options for firms that use them. Typically, a proprietary interface is contractually tied to the associated product. If the client decides to stop using the product, any references to the interface must be removed from the client’s applications. Further, the proprietary interface may not be copied and used for any other purpose, even if the firm remains a customer of that vendor for other uses. Together, these restrictions prevent the creation of adapters that could mitigate the costs and risks of migration"

As a follow-up, first real-world example I've seen so far of this release benefiting the community:

http://www.opengamma.com/blog/2012/02/02/bloomberg-market-da...

(Of course) the data won't be free. They don't get it for free--"tape" fees are a major source of exchange revenue.

(Although it's possible some delayed feeds may be available, etc.)

> They don't get it for free--"tape" fees are a major source of exchange revenue.

This is the truth. It's pretty outrageous the prices the exchanges charge for real time data.

Though to be fair they are pretty good about letting you pay for what you want.

Most offer: - 15 minute delayed quotes, - real time top of book, - depth of book and the - raw fast data feed with not additions.

Pick what you want.

Anecdote: I once asked how much it would cost if I enabled myself for realtime access to every exchange we offer and I was given the ballpark figure that it would cost the company $80k/year. Exchanges charge a lot.

Hmm, that seems cheap :)

TSX, NYSE, and NASDAQ are around $5000/month each for full depth of book.

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