Increase the value of your Terminal
The Bloomberg Terminal.. thousands of functions, across all asset classes, more technical analysis than you know what to do with, a vast wealth of static reference data, artificial intelligence built in, messaging, sentiment analysis on news. It doesn’t get much better .. or does it? As I mentioned in my last article, Bloomberg supplemented the Terminal with a point of integration, a means of programmatically getting at the power of the Terminal. They created what we call the Desktop API (DAPI), or more formally, the Bloomberg API (BLP API). As a first foray into this new API, Blomberg then created the first extension to the Terminal, the Bloomberg Office Excel Addin available at all good Bloomberg websites.
Bloomberg introduced the Excel add-in, and opened the door to a family of “B” functions, including =BDP(), =BDH(), =BDS() and many more. Some users today refer to this functionality as the “Excel API”, but strictly speaking, it’s an Excel Addin leveraging the BLP API. For the geeky souls out there, the Bloomberg Excel addin is built on the Excel RealTime Data (RTD) framework which, whilst not strictly realtime (it’s based on polling) serves an important function in getting ticking data into an Excel sheet.
This is an important leap forwards, because now we can arrange our launchpad screens with our holdings, news, analytics, etc, but also see real-time information ticking in our spreadsheet, combining the information to help us make an informed choice about our portfolio. Every time the price ticks on the Terminal, the sheet updates, all the values ripple through the cells, and voila, result time.
It’s probably worth reminding everyone though about Authentication and Authorisation. Authentication is about whether you as an individual are allowed to access the Bloomberg Terminal. This is done through a Bloomberg login using credentials. You’ll have a @bloomberg.net email, you’ll have a password, but you’ll also have that other piece of technology, the B-UNIT. The biometrics part of your credentials. It’s back to the.. something you know (your password) and the something you don’t know (the B-UNIT code generation). The B-UNIT only generates the code when you’ve successfully swiped your fingerprint across the sensor. If you’re fortunate enough, you’ll have a keyboard with a built-in fingerprint sensor. Once you’re authenticated, it’s time to determine what capabilities you have.. your authorisation. This can extend from what Bloomberg commands you have at your disposal to what exchanges, brokers, real-time vs delayed, level 1 vs level 2, etc.
So, back to the spreadsheet. We’re authenticated, we’re authorised.. and away we go. At some point, depending on how complex your needs get (and we’ve seen entire risk systems built in Excel!), Excel is probably going to start creaking at the seams. So, where do you go from here? You need to consider writing an application, and by writing an application that means developing some code that you can run on the same Windows device as the Bloomberg Terminal. It’s worth remembering that the fee paid for the Bloomberg Terminal and the fees for all the exchanges, OTC sources and brokers grants you “for display purposes” only. Ultimately, everything you do with the data is to indirectly assist with your cognitive workflow. Yes, it could provide a “signal” suggesting you trade out of your portfolio, but ultimately it needs to be your decision. The point is, don’t get carried away with your creative streak on writing that next application, or at least, wait a couple of blog articles.
The most obvious choice for programming, especially if you’re a quant or front office is to use Python. Python provides a notebook approach to writing code, with something called Jupyter. It’s a loosely typed language so great for prototyping and quickly developing functionality. For those wanting a more strictly typed language, and a severe rights of passage, you could choose C++, C# (.NET), Java and plenty more. For now, because of the tight coupling in terms of Authentication and Authorisation, and to a lesser/greater extent.. licencing, you’ll be developing on Windows, because that’s where the Terminal runs. Bloomberg offers a web page with all the libraries you’ll ever need to develop an application, and if you’re fortunate to have a Bloomberg Terminal look at WAPI<GO> also.
In summary, we started with the Bloomberg Terminal, then we’ve extended off Terminal to using the Excel Addin, and, the possibility of writing an application to provide even more functionality and help to the day job. But consider the what-next on the following;
You hit the Terminal limits
Your application provides so much value that the rest of your colleagues should be running it
Your application needs to run 24/7 (avoiding the logged out at 6pm syndrome)
In the next article we’ll talk about a solution that still leverages your Bloomberg Terminal capability but steps it up a notch to address the above three challenges.
If you can’t wait, or need some help discussing application architecture, or how to get the most out of your Bloomberg ecosystem, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here at Sherpa Consultancy.
