I'm using Reuters Markets Monitor. It is browser based so you have to request news items manually. Very comprehensive news coverage but probably not so useful if you need figures the second they are released. It is $200/month.
It seems to me that you are reducing Bloomberg to a datafeed+news provider. I'm working in a bank in the interest rate derivatives business and unless you tell me otherwise, Reuters has VERY LIMITED product PRICING possibilities, while Bloomberg will allow you to price almost anything, from a synthetic arbitrage CDO to principal protected range accrual Notes on gold. Comparing Bloomberg and Reuters doesn't make much sense, well at least to me, because they offer completely different services. Reuters is better for datafeed and news (Bloomberg still show erroneous FX quotes from time to time), while Bloomberg provides pricing services to bankers (and also weather forecast, flights schedule, address of restaurants lol, etc etc...). If someone is just looking for a datafeed, I don't think he needs Bloomberg. Plenty of cheaper alternatives. But it doesn't mean that Bloomberg is WAY overpriced. I personally think just the contrary actually, given its possibilities. We must have something like 40 or 50 subscriptions in our dealing room, and still pay more than 1,000$ for each. Over the years, I have found Bloomberg extremely difficult to negotiate with.
i'll try that, but thing is i got a couple of freebies / extensions when i started last year, thanks to an ebs / bb promotional trial thing...all in all got 6 months free, soooo...kinda difficult to haggle now... but i will also get a reuters rep. to come in, just to trial test reuters news and BB in parallel. there are enough views in this thread to make me think its worthwhile having a go! thanks all for the inputs, best, 2-cents
I have sat in front of Reuters and Bloomberg for many moons. I have found that Reuters 3000 to be a faster news service (on average). The new Reuters 3000 has Metastock included. It is 1k a month and IMO a better deal than Bloomberg. It really depends on your needs. Some traders have to have a Bloomberg. Or they think they do. It does do some convenient calculations for certain specialized derivatives traders. However, the new Reuters 3000 can do all those as well. You just have a new learning curve. The new Mestock pro FX for 65 dollars a month does indeed come with a live Reuters news feed. I have not tried it. But if it does half of what they say---it is a steal. By the way, Reuters owns Metastock. It is nice to see they are putting them to good use. If you are looking for a fast news service. Market News International is NOW supposedly the fastest (you can subscribe on their website or subscribe through Reuters). There is another news service that is a live voice feed online that is very fast as well. Maybe the fastest in fact. Cant think of the name. Futurestrader71 uses them. Look him up. It was reasonably priced. Trading news is an artform. Up until a couple years ago it was pretty simple---less competition. When I was on a desk, I had direct lines and Reuters/bloomberg and sometimes it was like taking candy from children. With electronic trading and everyone having a good news feed---it has become substantially more competitive.
Are you using EBS trader? Out of curiousity, who do you clear through? That is the smartest thing BB---hooking up with EBS. I have not talked to any private traders using that combo ---so indulge me.
ive used bloomberg news for about a year.... problem with bloomberg is that you have to subscribe to all those extensions for better coverage, which adds up. also, was a little dissappointed because prior to using it i had wondered if this was the 'holy grail' of news services... however, after using it for some time ive found that although it is a fast service it is not always necessarily complete... sometimes DJ has info that doesnt show up on the bloomy, which kind of burst my bubble.
TGM, why would you want to link EBS and BB ? EBS is a broker and if you want to link with a graphic software you will find better than Bloomberg for free ! (unfortunately Bloomberg doesn't have very good graphic interface). As far as I'm concerned I'm linking EBS with TradeStation and the pair is just fantastic. Especially since EBS displays only tradable prices.