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In order for DART to be effective the product must be able to analyse
market data usage at varying levels of detail. In eNEWS we typically
focus on how DART can be used at the higher levels - show all traders
that are paying for an exchange but have never used it, for instance.
Of course, DART works at a much more detailed level and can be used
to show what market data a trader is consuming in each desktop application
to the instrument level.
Spreadsheets, most notably Microsoft Excel, have become one of the
most important and widely used tools of financial market professionals.
If you walk into any large trading room you will see traders, analysts
and their associates working with Excel spreadsheets. Nearly all
the real-time data vendors feature spreadsheet add-ins which allow
real-time, historical or various types of analytical information
to be retrieved into a spreadsheet where it can be used to create
a trading or investing model. Many traders don't make a move without
first reviewing their spreadsheet models.
The real-time, historical or analytical information which is accessed
by these spreadsheets costs money. At first glance it may seem that
it may be part of the standard market data usage cost but in many
instances it can be a source of redundancy or an unnecessary expense
which can be easily eliminated and obtained from another source
at no cost.
In a recent example of such a situation a DART report identified
that Bloomberg's data products were used more widely than Reuters
by a group of fixed income traders. The Reuters data was only used
in spreadsheets. Many spreadsheets were found which contained links
to Bloomberg for pricing and historical information and links to
Reuters to obtain information from foreign sources such as a series
of Libor rates. The obvious redundancy is that Bloomberg can also
provide information on Libor rates.
It is perfectly possible, of course, to apply this methodology in
the other direction. That is, DART is capable of identifying that
a trader is using a Bloomberg only for mail and that an alternative
desktop application (say Kobra) is a more cost effective solution.
Although the trader or analyst may be aware of this redundancy eliminating
the unneeded data vendor is not an easy process. To convert the
fields with information from one data vendor to another is a tedious
and time consuming process.
Willow Solutions Inc. has developed a conversion tool which provides
a solution to this problem. For over 10 years, the company has been
developing proprietary applications for the financial services industry.
The company specializes in solutions that combine the power of Microsoft
Excel and Visual Basic, with an in-depth knowledge of financial
markets. From this experience, the company has developed a conversion
tool which automates the process of converting real-time formulas
from one data vendor into the real-time formulas of another data
vendor. The tedious, error-prone conversion process which could
take days or weeks now can be accomplished in a matter of hours.
If you require more detail contact Willow at www.willowsolutions.com.
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