Best data feed provider for MC equity traders / backtesters

Hi,

I'd like to check with MC and with other users, about their opinion on which data feed provider is the best (or good enough, based on your experience!) for equities.

I am currently using TS, and I note here my issues/wishlist:

Good:
1. Once you find the symbols you need and import them in MC Quote Manager, TS imports the data quickly, and without a problem.
I am updating my QM database often, and, apart from the exception I note below, load times are fast and complete.

Bad:
1. One time (and one time only, as far as I could check), data was loaded in QM from TS without the volume info. My backtests were not outputting anything, that's how I found out. I deleted and reloaded the data and everything was ok.

2. It happened a few times when I was backtesting strategies on daily data, that the data changed after some time. For example, I run a test on Dec 1, and the close of a specific day for symbol X was $10. When I run the same test a few weeks later, my entry price is different, and when I check why, I see that the close for that same day changed to $10.20.
I have not yet managed to explain why this happens - my tests are the same, so it could be TS changing their data, or Quote Manager playing tricks?
I've had this minor issue 3-4 times over the last few months, after running thousands of tests - I didn't check all of them, of course, but my feeling is that it's a non-issue.

3. I wish that my data provider could provide a list of all available symbols, including the not-traded ones (so that backtests can minimise survivorship bias). As it is, I had to search letter by letter in Quote manager to find all the symbols available.
In my opinion, such information is so easy to keep, and so important for traders, that I cannot see why it's not available.

Other info from data providers that I think would be very valuable to a systematic trader is:

a. Index components (e.g. the symbols that make up the S&P 500, Russell 3000) that are updated continuously.

b. Index components as at year-ends (for example, the S&P1500 as at 31 Dec 2002, with the symbol list showing the symbols as they are represented today). As an example, say symbol AAA was in the S&P600 in 2002, but the company went bankrupt since then, and TS changed its name to AAA!, which is how TS shows not-traded symbols. If I want to see the symbol list of the S&P600 as at Dec 2002, the list must show AAA as AAA!.

c. GICS (the classification that separates equities in sectors, industry groups etc) info for each symbol.
And Multicharts Quote Manager should have the necessary fields to keep this info.

If anyone knows of a data provider who keeps this kind of information and works well with Multicharts, please let us know!

Thanks a lot
Andreas

Hello Andreas,

It is hard to recommend any particular data feed. MultiCharts is a data feed neutral trading platform and we believe that our customers should be able to choose a data provider that suits their needs best.

I have not yet managed to explain why this happens - my tests are the same, so it could be TS changing their data, or Quote Manager playing tricks?

Real-time and historical data comes from different servers. Quite often data providers change data on historical servers so it may slightly differ from data collected in real-time.

As it is, I had to search letter by letter in Quote manager to find all the symbols available.
In my opinion, such information is so easy to keep, and so important for traders, that I cannot see why it's not available

Unfortunately, TS provides search all symbols feature only for Forex category through their API. This behavior will be improved as long as changes happen on TS end.

Other info from data providers that I think would be very valuable to a systematic trader is:

a. Index components (e.g. the symbols that make up the S&P 500, Russell 3000) that are updated continuously.

b. Index components as at year-ends (for example, the S&P1500 as at 31 Dec 2002, with the symbol list showing the symbols as they are represented today). As an example, say symbol AAA was in the S&P600 in 2002, but the company went bankrupt since then, and TS changed its name to AAA!, which is how TS shows not-traded symbols. If I want to see the symbol list of the S&P600 as at Dec 2002, the list must show AAA as AAA!.

c. GICS (the classification that separates equities in sectors, industry groups etc) info for each symbol.
And Multicharts Quote Manager should have the necessary fields to keep this info.

Thank you for your suggestions. They have been forwarded to the developers and will be considered for future implementation.

Thank you for the feedback Dave.

I'd love to hear any views from MC users about their choice of data feed provider, especially if you are an equity trader.