Quote Services on the Net

Response to our first CTCR Interactive was very positive. Almost 65% of respondents gave this column the highest ranking. However, those of you with computers loved it while those without computers couldn't use it.

So we will continue with the column but try to keep the articles short. Those of you who want more can go to our web site for a constant update. Our web site is the only web site that contains reviews and annotations of web sites for futures traders. It is already the Futures Authority on the World Wide Web.

This column focuses on quote services but we also have a couple of new chart services listed at the end.

This issue of CTCR Interactive reviews the Web sites that provide intra-day quotes. Delayed intra-day quotes are easy to find but there is only one site that offers real time quotes for futures: PC Quote Europe (excluding the SIMEX Exchange). Oddly enough, the US parent of PC Quote does not offer real time quotes in the US.

Otherwise, there are plenty of sites to choose from that offer delayed futures quotes. However, I was not impressed with most sites. Many of them do not update very often. Some of them are not always available. Even the one I use the most, Bloomberg, was unavailable for about a week recently. I guess you get what you pay for.

All of the services work the same way. You have to reload the page to get the freshest quotes. This means that you always have a slight lag before you receive the quote. Most of them show open, high, low, and close or last (OHLC) and some have volume and open interest (VOI).

Services Listed Below

Bloomberg Editor's Choice!

http://www.bloomberg.com/cgi-bin/tdisp.sh?markets/future.html

Delayed quotes updated every fifteen minutes. This is the page I keep on my screen all day because it is the quickest update available. The only problem is that there are a few strange choices. There is no cotton or Unleaded Gas and they have the London versions of the Coffee and Cocoa markets. Still, this is the quickest snapshot of the markets around.

PC Quote Europe

http://www.pcquote-europe.co.uk/

Oddly enough, you can get real time quotes over the Internet from the European subsidiary of PC Quote. They have all the US exchanges except the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices range from 55 Pounds per month plus exchange fees.

PitStar

http://www.serve.com/pady/index2.htm#Viewing

An OHLC list of all the major futures markets in the US. Easy to quickly scan all the spot contracts. Also available in a format for downloading.

-The Rest-

Bloomberg Energy

http://www.bloomberg.com/cgi-bin/engdisp.sh?nrg/home_eng.html

This page will take you to a page that shows the last price of the major US and London energy futures contracts as well as key global stock indices and cash foreign exchange. There is also a nice intraday chart of the Dow Industrials and cash S&P 500. This page will also get you to a page showing the OHLC of the key US energy futures contracts.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange

http://www.cme.com/market/quote.html

This is a very comprehensive list that leads to the OHLC and VOI of every futures and options contract that trades on the CME. Each futures contract has its own link and there is also a link that downloads every futures and options contract in a quadrant in an ASCII format. The CME has four quadrants: agricultural, equities, interest, and currencies. This latter feature is very handy if you want all the futures and options information for a quadrant. Be forewarned though; they have a lot of dormant contracts that get downloaded in this process.

CNNfn

http://www.cnnfn.com/markets/commodities.html

This page only has meats, petroleum products, and precious metals. Formatting is slightly off. Supposedly delayed by 20 minutes but often hours late.

Daily Petroleum Report

http://baervan.nmt.edu/prices/current.html

Shows OHLC of major US petroleum futures as well as major cash petroleum markets. Not updated very often.

Data Broadcasting Online

http://mw.dbc.com/

This service provides delayed futures quotes (and real time stock quotes) for $29.95 per month.

DTN/PAWWS

http://pawws.secapl.com/Dtn_phtml/deriv.shtml

This service provides delayed futures quotes for $5.95 per month. Screen displays of delayed futures quotes typically show four or more contract months, the high, low, last and change.

Futures Source

http://www.futuresource.com/ci30.html

This allows you to get a delayed quote for one futures contract at a time. When you select the futures contract you want, the system gives you the delayed OHLC of the contract as well as the OHLC for the last ten days as well as a weekly bar chart. However, the weekly chart is almost useless. For example, we looked up the September Bond contract and the weekly bar chart hadn't been updated since May!

Interquote

http://www.interquote.com/

They offer delayed futures quotes in two forms for $9.95 per month or $19.95 per month depending on whether you want delayed quotes or delayed interactive quotes. The delayed service presents the quotes on the World Wide Web while the interactive services uses a stand alone program.

INO

http://www.ino.com/marketquote/

Extensive site of delayed quotes from US exchanges. However, they don't always show the most sensible contracts. For example, December metals futures aren't being shown right now but they have November Gold! One nice feature is that you can click on the name of the futures contract and it will take you to a menu of charts available on that commodity. You can view an intraday line chart, a daily candlestick chart that covers roughly ninety days, and a weekly candlestick chart that is pretty much useless because it only covers the last several weeks.

Ira Epstein & Company

http://www.iepstein.com/quotes.html

Delayed futures quotes of major US contracts during the day. A complete OHLC of US futures available after the close.

Jack Carl Futures

http://www.jackcarl.com/PQ196.html

Shows OHLC for all the US markets at end of day. You can access the last week's worth of these sheets.

Kansas City Board of Trade

http://www.kcbt.com/pricing.htm

This is a page that leads to OHLC and volume and open interest for the contracts traded on the KCBOT, including Wheat, Value Line, and Western Gas.

Kitco

http://www.kitco.com/gold.live.html#ourtable

Cash precious metals quotes updated every ten minutes for 22 hours a day.

MJK

http://www.cbot.com/mjkmenu.htm

MJK provides OHLC for all the major exchanges around the world at end of day. However, you must be signed up with the Chicago Board of Trade's Marketplex before you can get them. Otherwise they are free and comprehensive.

Prophet

http://www.prophetdata.com/updates.html

End of day OHLC for major markets.You must use their proprietary software and the cost is $39/month.

Quote.com

http://fast.quote.com/fq/quotecom/quote

Can get delayed quotes, one at a time. However, it also shows the last four trades at the same time. Unfortunately, they don't support all exchanges. For example, Chicago Mercantile currency futures are missing.

Richard Potts

http://www.teleport.com/~rpotts/prices/prices.html

A comprehensive OHLC end of day service.

SIMEX

http://web3.asia1.com.sg/cgi-bin/simex/futures.pl

Live quotes from the SIMEX.

Trelleborg

http://www.trellgroup.se/trellgroup/PRI.html

Closing prices from the London Metal Exchange.

Wall Street Journal

http://interactive5.wsj.com/edition/current/articles/Commodities.htm

Has delayed quotes for US exchanges. You must register to view these pages. It's free now but will cost starting September 1.

Winnipeg Commodity Exchange

http://www.telenium.ca/WCE/index.html

OHLC for all futures contracts traded at the WCE available at the end of the day.