Conference nyoss1::market_investing

    
    I don't know the reason, but when I was interviewing with
    Fidelity Investments, I noticed that THEIR quotes were 15 minutes
    late, too.  I can't imagine that it takes that long for the 
    database to update and propagate itself.  But, you'd figure
    if anyone had quicker quotes, it'd be Fido.
    
    Maybe they need SAP R/3.
    
    
    Bart

> Why are most stock quotes delayed at least 15 minutes?

	Because real-time stock quotes are worth $$$$.

> Who can provide up-to-the-second stock quotations?

	Waterhouse Securities offers free real-time quotes via
	their touch-tone system.  However you have to open up
	an account with them, and you only get so many free
	quotes.  However if you make lots of trades, you get
	100 free quotes for every trade.  I've got like 9,000
	free quotes left in my quote bank .... (using a touch
	tone system is inconvient way to get quotes, I wish
	they would add support for modem'ing in instead).

	If you look in Investors Business Daily, or probably the WSJ
	you'll see tons of ads for places offering real-time quotes
	(and finanancial headlines/news) services.  Usuaully you
	rent or buy a piece of equipment to receive the quotes via
	FM radio (or cable TV in some places) and the unit either has
	it's own display, or you can hook it up to a PC.  You also
	then pay for the subscription to the service.

	There are some existing topics about some of these systems
	in here.

So there's no SEC or exchange rule restricting realtime quoting
to specific entities (e.g. exchange member brokerages, etc.)?

I believe some papers have to be filed with the SEC for non-professionals before
the can get realtime quotes.  Just a formality.

.3>So there's no SEC or exchange rule restricting realtime quoting
.3>to specific entities (e.g. exchange member brokerages, etc.)?
    
    Nope. The exchanges can do whatever they want with THEIR data.
    
.4> I believe some papers have to be filed with the SEC for non-professionals before
.4> the can get realtime quotes.  Just a formality.
    
    Not true. This is strictly a matter of exchange policies. I *have*
    filed papers with both stock and futures exchanges for real-time quotes.
    They are pretty much pro forma, but I had to promise not to redistribute
    real-time data.
    
      John

Re .1

I've never used Fidelity, but I'd be willing to wager that the traders at 
Fidelity do NOT have 15 minute delays on their quotes.

For a trading company, and Fidelity is one of the largest, 15 minutes is like 
a lifetime.

SteveS

    re: Fidelity
    
    Actually, what I was referring to was the ticker that the employees
    get to see.  (NO matter where you are in the building, you can
    see a ticker.)  And this was FISCo, not just the traders (sorry).
    
    Obviously not the traders. 
    
    
    Bart
    
                                                                    

>>    Actually, what I was referring to was the ticker that the employees
>>    get to see.  (NO matter where you are in the building, you can

Which employee's?  You mean quote_v1?  If are talking about that then maybe
this should be moved to the DIGITAL_INVESTING conference.

The short answer is what ever service that Digital (corporate) has signed up 
for to get the quote has a 15 minute delay.  I think the phrase was "at least
15 minutes".  The procedure that feeds the quote_v1 server with the new quote
takes that 15 minutes into account - as did any of the manual updaters but they
have all stopped updating the quote.

Brian J.

    re .8
    
    I'm sorry, let me explain what I meant again.  If you work
    for FIDELITY INVESTMENTS SYSTEMS COMPANY, or FISCo, no matter
    where you sit in the buiding, there is a ticker in sight
    (on a 2 foot long LED panel)  IT'S quotes, I was told, are
    15 minutes late.  The reason they told this story was one
    of thier goals was to optimize the time it took for the
    database to update itself.  
    
    If this belongs in DIGITAL_INVESTING, let me know.
    
    
    Bart
    

>     I'm sorry, let me explain what I meant again.  If you work
>     for FIDELITY INVESTMENTS SYSTEMS COMPANY, or FISCo, no matter
>     where you sit in the buiding, there is a ticker in sight
>     (on a 2 foot long LED panel)  IT'S quotes, I was told, are
>     15 minutes late.  The reason they told this story was one
>     of thier goals was to optimize the time it took for the
>     database to update itself.  

	Why would any of the order takers be using that board?  Their
	quotes should be coming off the computer (where they'll also
	see the Bid/Ask).  It sounds like the LED Ticker Board is for
	show .....

    Each of the exchanges (as noted prior) requires direct users or
    redistributors to pay for information that is "realtime" or Up-to-time
    or otherwise newer than 15 minutes old.  Each of these entitlements
    carries a fee determined by the particular exchange.
    
    Information that is 15 minutes old is really old when you are making
    trading decisions and therefore verrrry inexpensive (if not free).  The
    tickers that you see are for public consumption because they are not
    electronically tied to a system where they could make a trade.  Brokers
    (who need them) and definitely traders, all have instantaneous
    information and some of this info may also be directly input to program
    trading calculations.  Tickers in this case, if used at all, are
    instantaneous and used to spot trends (usually through block trades),
    
    It is interesting to watch tickers (even delayed) is you have some
    shares or just to watch the reaction to current news stories.

    
    
    As I understood, the ticker on the wall was also available to
    run on the bottom of your screen, and some of the analyists/researchers
    used it.  They had all kinds of interesting flags that you could
    set to check on changes and such, and not have to watch it 
    all the time, your machine would beep if something interesting
    was happening.  How much of this was for show, I have no idea.
    I just remember, being a prospective employee, that they made
    mention of the 15 minute delay to me...
    
    
    Bart

    I've seen that ticker going by on some cable news station durign the
    day -- C-span? CNN? Is that "the" ticker, with absolute
    up-to-the-second quotes?
    				Jim

>     I've seen that ticker going by on some cable news station durign the
>     day -- C-span? CNN? Is that "the" ticker, with absolute
>     up-to-the-second quotes?

	CNN HN has a ticker on the bottom of the screen (sadly however
	the ticker disappears during commercials).  Those quotes are
	15-minute delayed (they now even flash that fact every so often).

	FNN (Financial News Network) which I used to see in hotel rooms
	(Time-Warner in Nashua doesn't carry it) also has a ticker on
	the bottom of the screen, and if I recall, it stays there even
	during commercials.

    
    Not sure where to place this but this seemed like a good note ....
    
    
    YOU can now get REAL TIME stock quote for FREE on the internet.
    
    Try http://www.dbc.com   under market watch.  
    
    This got to be the BEST homepage out there ... you can get
    mortgage\rates daily for any area of country, sports updates, news, 
    business updates, this stuff is updated often.
    
    Check it out ... 

I look at DBC all the time and I don't believe they're
real time.  They say "as of 'timestamp'" but they're
really delayed.  Try getting a quote at 4:00 pm then,
a half hour later, try getting the same quote and see
if it hasn't changed.

Tom Baker

	Even DBC's "market headlines" are time delayed ....

    
    DBC seems to be offering - at $29/month - a real time service.