Bloomberg Terminal

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The Bloomberg Terminal is a computer system provided by Bloomberg L.P. that enables financial professionals to access the Bloomberg Professional service through which users can monitor and analyze real-time financial market data movements and place trades on the electronic trading platform.[1] The system also provides news, price quotes, and messaging across its proprietary secure network. Most large financial firms have subscriptions to the Bloomberg Professional service. Many exchanges charge their own additional fees for access to real time price feeds across the terminal. The same applies to various news organizations. All Bloomberg Terminals are leased in 2 year cycle, with leases based on how many displays are connected to each terminal. A subscription is around US$1,500 per month.[2] Most Bloomberg setups have between 2 and 4 displays. As of May 2010, there are 300,000 Bloomberg Terminal subscribers worldwide.[3]

A Bloomberg Terminal (offline)

Contents

[edit] Architecture

The terminal implements a client-server architecture with the server running on a multiprocessor Unix platform. The client, used by the end users to interact with the system, is a Windows application. End users can also make use of an extra service (Bloomberg Anywhere) that allows Web access to this Windows application via a Citrix client. There is also a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) portal, and applications that allow mobile access via Android, BlackBerry, and iOS. The server side of the terminal has been developed using mostly the programming languages Fortran and C. Recent years have seen a shift in focus toward C++ and embedded JavaScript on the clients and servers.[citation needed]

Each server machine runs multiple instances of the server process. Using a proprietary form of context-switching, the servers keep track of the state of each end user, allowing consecutive interactions from a single user to be handled by different server processes. The graphical user interface (GUI) code is also proprietary.

[edit] Keyboard

In Michael Bloomberg's 1997 autobiography, in a chapter titled "Computers for Virgins", he explained how the design of the terminal was slightly different from the standard IBM PC keyboard layout that was popular at that time. The keyboard layout was designed for traders and other market makers who had no prior computer experience. While the look and feel of the Bloomberg keyboard is very similar to the standard computer keyboard, there are several enhancements that help users navigate through the system, from the idea for a user friendly system when originally designed in the early 1980s.

Commands for the keyboard are commonly referred to inside angle brackets. The keys were replaced from the technical name (i.e. F10) and the then standard beige color, opting for a user friendly name and a memorable color, in this example for a lookup on an Index with a yellow key. Another example, the "Esc" for most computer keyboards is referred to as red colored <CANCEL> key in the Bloomberg system, with the red to catch one's eye to stop a task. The "Enter" key is referred to as <GO> with a green color, deriving from the Monopoly game board, by passing "Go" and collecting $200 in a hope that the user could make money on the information he would find (hence the green key.) [4]

Crucially, the Bloomberg keyboard includes a unique <MENU> key, which serves a similar function to the "back" button in an internet browser.

The yellow hot keys along the top of the keyboard are used to enter market sectors, and must be used to allow the terminal to correctly identify a security.

Bloomberg terminal keyboard
  • GOVT - government securities (US treasury and non-US)
  • CORP - corporate debt
  • MTGE - mortgage securities
  • M-Mkt - money market
  • MUNI - municipal debt
  • PFD - preferred shares
  • EQUITY - equity shares
  • COMDTY - commodity markets
  • INDEX - indices
  • CURNCY - currency markets

For example, if someone interested in the Vodafone stock listed in London market, one enters VOD LN <Equity> <GO> where VOD is the company's ticker, and LN is the venue code for London. A detailed option list related to Vodafone UK stock will pop up, the person can then choose different options by pressing related keys or using the mouse to select the option.

Similarly, USDEUR <Curncy> <GO> displays the US dollar / Euro exchange rate.

other common Bloomberg commands for Equity:

  • HP - Display the detailed 1 year price of that stock
  • DVD - Dividend / Split Summary of that stock
  • CACS - Corporate Actions related to that stock
  • CN - News feeds related to that stock

Thus, if someone interested in the Vodafone UK stock price, they can in fact directly type in VOD LN <Equity> HP <GO>.

The Bloomberg keyboard is heavier and sturdier than standard keyboards (the current version, SEA100 Bloomberg keyboard weighed around 3 kg); it also comes with built-in speakers for video and multimedia features. The current SEA100 version, as well as the previous version has built-in biometric sensor to ensures the terminal remains to the registered user alone.

Bloomberg keys on a US Windows keyboard
CANCEL HELP GOVT CORP MTGE M-MKT MUNI PFD EQUITY CMDTY INDEX CRNCY CLIENT PRINT ScrLk CONN
DFLT
Tilde Exclamation mark At sign Number sign Dollar sign Percent sign Caret Ampersand Asterisk Bracket Bracket Underscore Plus and minus signs Backspace Grave accent 1 (number) 2 (number) 3 (number) 4 (number) 5 (number) 6 (number) 7 (number) 8 (number) 9 (number) 0 (number) Hyphen Equals sign Backspace Tab key Q W E R T Y U I O P Bracket Bracket Vertical bar Tab key Q W E R T Y U I O P Bracket Bracket Backslash Caps lock A S D F G H J K L Colon (punctuation) Quotation mark Enter key Caps lock A S D F G H J K L Semicolon Apostrophe Enter key Shift key Z X C V B N M Bracket Bracket Question mark Shift key Shift key Z X C V B N M Comma (punctuation) Full stop Slash (punctuation) Shift key Control key Windows key Alt key Space bar AltGr key Windows key Menu key Control keyKB United States.svg
 CMAND HOME BACK € /4 Sfr /8 ¥ /32 £ /64
DEL MENU FWD QUTE 1 QUTE 2 SRVYS /16

1/2
RPRT 1 RPRT 2 NEWS
↑ MESSAGE MEMO MNTOR GO
← ↓ → PANEL CODE

[edit] Terminal and related products

Originally a self-contained operating system running on custom hardware - commonly referred to as a "Bloomberg Box"[5] - the Bloomberg Terminal now functions as an application within the Windows environment. From a user's perspective, there are essentially 3 distinct levels to the system:

[edit] Core Terminal

This is the original system, consisting typically of 2 windows (some larger trading desks have 4), each containing a separate instance of the terminal command line. By entering tickers and functions, data can be displayed and programs run to analyze it. This seemingly large number of windows allows users to call up several entirely different sets of data, and compare it quickly; for those users who have more than one computer display, each terminal window can be assigned independently, creating, in effect, four terminals.

[edit] Launchpad

Launchpad is a customizable display consisting of a number of smaller windows, called 'components', each of which dedicated to permanently displaying one set of data. A typical user would be a stockbroker who wishes to keep a list of 30 stocks visible at all times: Launchpad creates a small component which will show these prices constantly, saving the broker from having to check each stock independently in the terminal. It can be toggled on or off by hitting the <LPAD> key. Other functions, such as email inboxes, calculation tools and news tickers can be similarly displayed. The Instant Bloomberg messaging/chat tool is a Launchpad component, as are the chat windows it creates. To launch a normal function from the Bloomberg Terminal's 4 Screens into launchpad type LLP and press enter on the target screen you wish to turn into a launchpad item.

[edit] Application programming interface

The application programming interface (API) allows exporting data from the Terminal to 3rd party applications, such as Microsoft Excel. A user might wish to use Bloomberg data from the terminal to create their own calculations; by exporting the live data into another program, they can build these formulae. Bloomberg supports this through a range of add-ins which are packaged with the terminal software.

[edit] Competitors

Leading competitors for electronic financial data provision include Morningstar Direct, Markit, Zacks Investment Research, FactSet Research Systems, Capital IQ, Thomson Reuters, PrivateRaise.com, Advantage Data Inc, Fidessa and Dow Jones.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/professional/
  2. ^ How Bloomberg will Fare in the Financial Crisis, Oct 2 2008, BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_41/b4103102263210.htm
  3. ^ http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20100616/FREE/100619932 The 287,500 subscribers of the Bloomberg Professional service will soon have the opportunity to add Launchpad 2010 to the mix of applications on their desktop
  4. ^ Bloomberg by Bloomberg, Michael R. Bloomberg 1997
  5. ^ Lowry, Tom (23 April 2001). "The Bloomberg Machine". BusinessWeek (McGraw-Hill). http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_17/b3729001.htm. Retrieved 23 October 2009. 

[edit] External links

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