Data serves as the foundation for quantitative trading. Having reliable, accurate, and timely data enables traders to devise and backtest strategies as well as predict how the market would react at a particular time. There are different data sources available which relevantly depend on the needs of the trader, their budget, and the trading strategy they have. This article aims at discussing the major kinds of data that may be useful in finding reputable sources of quantitative trading data.
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Market Data<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Also known as trading data, it consists of time series data such as prices as well as volume of assets like stocks, commodities, and currencies. Essential for backtesting strategies and also monitoring and tracking the market in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fundamental Data<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n These include company metrics such as company financials, earnings reports, balance sheets, as well as macroeconomic indicators and estimates. Fundamental data is beneficial for basic DCF company valuations as well as long term strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternative Data<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Social media sentiment, news or even weather patterns are considered \u2018alternative data\u2019, which might be helpful for a dynamic and active trader. Alternative data can provide non traditional datasets and sources that will ultimately assist in better and more accurate forecasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Economic Data<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Economic data sets are reports on figures such as GDP, inflation, employment and other general economic forecasting reports. These are useful in macroeconomic trend analysis and helping traders or analysts understand the global economy better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sentiment Data<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sentiment data which analyses common public sentiments and opinions, whether its news articles or social media posts or even forum discussions. This is often useful when building machine learning models as observations for sentiment aided trading. Market Data Provider\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bloomberg Terminal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the high source market data that is mostly historical and available in December by institutional streamline traders due to the trust and level that it contains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomson Reuters Refinitiv<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Data on news and market and their movements are available alongside quite adequate its robust analytics tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quandl<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Such information can be obtained via a variety of sources, including accounts on social networks, historical figures, alternative datasets, and financial indicators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stock Exchanges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n National Stock Exchange of India (NSE)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This contains both historical and current records and dealings of Indian equities and derivatives products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BSE India<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Provides services relating to data for stocks contained on the Bombay Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NYSE\/NASDAQ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Provides traders with means of accessing the market by among other offerings APIs and data subscription to amounts of the leading US NSE platforms. Alpha Vantage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exchanges rates, stock market indicators and plenty of market data are some of the important services that are offered for free via their APIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Polygon.io<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Painstakingly maintaining a record of fx, stocks and crypto is now easy as real time and historic data is at your disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yahoo Finance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Great resource for one to one prices, however, one should bear in mind that it is devoid of historical details especially price history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interactive Brokers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Highly qualitative data can be obtained because this brokerage is also a trading one. Morningstar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Records on mutual and stocks along with ETF\u2019s can be sourced here with great detail sequentially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yahoo Finance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The site is also basic in that it has very little information about financial earnings and basic balance sheets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Macrotrends<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It covers historical fundamental as well as macroeconomic data associated with different equities in the market. Sentiment Analysis Platforms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sentiment analysis is also done in sites such as Dataminr and RavenPack that analyze social media, news, and other text data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Satellite Data<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, Orbital Insight is one which offers satellite imagery for measuring supply chains and other business activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Web Scraping<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Specific web pages can be scraped using specific tools or web platforms like Scrapy but should be compliant with laws and ethical standards. Various Agencies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Official reports and indicators related to economic activity are also downloaded from the official JPGs of a Reserve Bank of India and U.S. Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n International Organizations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Key institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, and the OECD provide access to economic files at a global level which can be used for macros. CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Provide current as well as past prices of different cryptocurrencies, their market capitalization, and the volume of trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crypto Exchanges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Use APIs available in Binance, Coinbase as well as Kraken to access crypto trading and transaction data. Free Data Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Free data sources include Yahoo Finance, Alpha Vantage and NSE which are enough for basic datasets that can be used by beginner traders. Basic downside to free data sources is that they generally have poor accuracy, lack depth, and detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data for Money:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bloomberg, Refinitiv, and Quandl are among the providers that cover high-end data along with analytical features. These are best suited for institutional traders or advanced strategies, but could be cumbersome to retail traders. Outline Your Requirements:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you dealing with stock market, forex, crypto currencies, or commodities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you require real-time data when day trading or do you want historical data to use in back-testing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Measure& Appraise Information Performance:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Check for accuracy, reliability and consistency. Lack of or errors in data leads to data-driven strategies that are to be flawed<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strategize Options Regarding Target Market Approach:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Basic strategies don\u2019t require free resources, but share data for millerman quantum demographics and markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check if it is Approved:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Check availability of data from a source or organization that has legality standing, or else one might face legal issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disseminate on Sufficiency:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Search accommodation whereby the data source would be compatible with your trading platform or tools. There is no doubt, unless you have reliable data, say a quantitative trader, coming up with suitable basic strategies is practically impossible. Free sources are normally for beginners, but when advanced traders are active, precision and insights become crucial allowing the trader to look for premium data. It is said that the most crucial aspect is recalling the data source, to the need of the trader, where details such as cost and technical aspects are weighed in. With the quality of data sourced, clearly the decision making process will improve as consistency of making profits is enhanced proportionately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nBest Places to get Quant Trading Data<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nData Aggregators and APIs<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nFundamental Data Sources<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlternative Data Providers<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nEconomic Data Sources<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nCryptocurrency Data<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nFree vs. Paid Data Sources<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nSelecting the Right Data Source<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nFinal Remarks<\/h5>\n\n\n\n