Problem with Yahoo LSE data?

[ludo]

Hi. I am new to t2w and this question may have been answered before long ago but I am wondering what is going on with the Yahoo LSE historical prices data. They don't seem to have been updated since the 20th (nearly a week ago now). Is this normal? for example http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=ABF.L

thanks

 

[knorrie]

Yes this happens every now and then. I just noticed this at the weekend, I've tried all of the Yahoo servers and as you say, none of them have UK data after the 20th. Give it another couple of days and the data should magically appear.

For freebie EOD LSE I generally use MSN or eoddata.com now, although both of these also have problems with certain stocks I follow. The MSN data (actually supplied by Comstock) for UK stocks seems to be much better quality than Yahoo anyway.

All just part of the fun and games when you don't fork out for a proper datafeed

KenN

 

[ludo]

Thanks for the response I will try out the two that you have suggested. Do you think that it is worth purchasing the data even though it is available free from these sources? What do you do? Apart from the problem that has happened here with Yahoo are there any other reasons to pay for end of day data. Surely data is data? or am i missing something?

 

[knorrie]

The problem with free UK stock data, and some paid data too, is that it is pretty variable. Look at the data on any given day on each of the usual sites - Yahoo (Reuters), FT/BigCharts (ComStock), Bloomberg - whatever. You frequently find discrepancies in the high/low or volume, and sometimes in the close too.

Today for instance, take AZN. The close/high is the same on all sites (!), but the low on Bloomberg/Reuters is 2167, on Comstock it's 2168. But the volume is 6,295,735 on Bloomberg, 6,159,594 on Reuters and 5,124,484 on Comstock.

I guess the discrepancies are due to the different ways each provider filters error or other trade types such as MM to MM movements, and maybe whether auction trades are included or not, but who is to say which is correct? This has been discussed before on T2W, have a look on this thread from post #17 onwards:

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?t=10387

I no longer pay for a UK EOD datafeed as the sort of medium/long term trades I do with UK stocks doesn't require high accuracy or availability (just as well with Yahoo, it's still not working).

KenN

 

[knorrie]

Yahoo LSE data now working again with missing data restored. That was a long outage (21st - 29th Oct).

KenN

 

[OLDMOUSE]

Yahoo gives last trade historical data whereas most other data providers give closing mid price. Is it not too erratic to use last trade data as this could either be a sell or buy and the values can differ a lot. Also special eod trades can command a way off price and this figure would throw the system out. In other words there is no consistency like there is with always using the closing mid price. Any views?

 

[DaveJB]

Hi Ludo,
data is data - but I've yet to find a close that is above the daily high in any data I've paid for, while last time I checked a Yahoo datafile it was happening quite often... it's okay for a quick look at things you aren't intending to trade, but last time I looked trading was enough of a challenge without using 'funny' prices as the basis for analysis.
It's very good of yahoo to provide this, I think, no doubt they have their reasons and the free data they provide is quite similar quality to some low priced feeds I've encountered in the past, it just it isn't (imo) good enough to trade on.
Dave

 

[ludo]

thanks for that dave, it certainly has been incredibly inconvenient while the data was missing as I had a trade open for which my system was not getting data. I am at a stage where I am testing out my system and do not want to spend a huge amount on data until I am confident that it is going to work as I am not playing with large amounts at the moment so spending large amounts cannot be justified. What is the abosolute lowest that can be paid for reliable eod data that in your opinion is good enough to trade off?

 

[DaveJB]

That's a matter of opinion, but personally I take Sharescope for UK data (you export text files that you then shoehorn into other programs) which will give you the entire LSE for something like £14 a month (can't remember exactly, I have a few feeds on the go) and TC2000 for US data which is $30 a month - at current exchange rates that's something like £16.50 a month.
If you only need the occasional share for system testing, and don't care which you get, then Dukascopy offers free data - I dunno if it's any better than Yahoo, but I doubt it's any worse. Not much point testing if your data is bad - you'll never know if signals are reliable, will you? I'd pick either SS or TC2000, depending on market of interest, and pay the approx £15 for good data... I can understand people not paying hundreds of pounds a month for data/programs, but if you can't run to £15 for data a month then you really ought not to be investing or spreadbetting (that's not a rant, it's well meant advice) as too small an initial pot will mean too many compromises along the way - there is risk in investing and it is pointless to take that extra risk unless the return is worth having <g>

Good luck - I've tried a good few datafeeds over the past few years, these two have stood the test of time.

Dave