What is your annual budget for paid information that you use to make trading decisions? I am not referring to market data, e.g., live quotes or historical data used for analysis or backtesting. I am referring to subscription products like Bloomberg, WSJ, or IBD, and to products like Seeking Alpha. And I am not referring to the Bloomberg Terminal, but rather to the retail subscription product. I can think of only one or two people who actively participate here on ET who might have access to Bloomberg Terminal. I'm curious what people spend on these types of services, which ones you use, and how often you review the question of whether it's worth it. I am currently using a trial of the Seeking Alpha Pro product, and I'm impressed with what they have to offer. But it's information overload. And I have not yet taken the time to study the issue of just how qualified their contributors are. Seems like the bar is pretty low; looks like almost anyone can "write an article" on Seeking Alpha. But I think there are tools that enable the user to look at the history and reputation of the contributors. And someone else, in a different thread about SA, commented that when someone writes something in article and something doesn't seem right, other members of the community are quick to call it out in comments. And the comment threads are apparently taken very seriously. Not sure how much moderation there is. But it seems like in some cases, a few comments may be just as valuable and useful as the article... Would love to hear others' thoughts on how much you pay for information, and where you get it. I know there have been other threads on this general theme, but I haven't seen anything recent.
I spend a lot on research, but most of it is on primary sources or street analysts (because they’re the benchmark that matters). Any type of information or news should be tagged to a specific outcome to discern if it’s useful. You should ask if information (1) changes your estimates of revenue or margins on a specific industry or company, (2) changes your view on interest rates, (3) changes your view of real economic activity, or (4) changes your view of activity up or downstream from a company or sector you’re covering.
150k+ excluding commission budget…helps me preserve an analytical edge and retain approximate informational parity. There’s no news source that’s going to give you an edge a la “trading the news”. However, if you can talk to experts within a specific domain and ask them the right questions or read their research… then you’re on the path to earned insights and informational asymmetry.
150k...and I was worried whether to add the subscription to Bloomberg news in addition to the FT lol What does "excluding commission budget" mean?
A lot of sell side research is paid for through commissions. E.g. if I do x amount of business with a firm I’ll get access to y tier of research.
Thanks for clarifying. How does one do business with a firm would be my next question. But appreciate I'm getting into personal/firm own way of doing business (pun intended) so feel free to ignore.
If you’re trading for yourself, you can just open brokerage accounts at firms that have analyst research. E.g. Chase.