Google to Offer Real-Time Stock Quotes

Apro+im writes "Today, Google announced that Google Finance will report real-time prices on NASDAQ-listed securities. While real-time stock quotes are not new, they have long encumbered with subscriptions, legal agreements, or pay software. This may be the first free source for real-time quotes."

Simpsons already did it.

[X43B]

Yahoo! does this already.

I got 'em in E*Trade readily enough.

[FooAtWFU]

I got free real-time quotes with my E*Trade account readily enough. You do need to open an account and log in each time, and you do need to accept a legal agreement, but I don't think you need to actually pay for them.

The legal agreement was mostly "you can't sue us, or NASDAQ, or the NYSE or anybody, for giving you these quotes... and you can't, like, republish these to other people". It didn't seem excessive.

I guess Google will be more convenient than these, but it's not a huge deal. Besides, if you actually care about a 15-minute delay, you'll have your brokerage account open anyway.

Re:Real time or delayed?

[bucky0]

Looking back on the google finance blog, they apparently went to the SEC and asked to get a feed straight from the source. I think it's gonna be as real time as possible

This is a NASDAQ story, not a Google story

[nodwick]

While I know Google makes for good news, this story is in fact more about the exchanges loosening their grip on quote restrictions than it is a feel-good Google story.

Historically the exchanges have required anyone offering free quotes to delay them 15-20 minutes [cnn.com] since a big part of their revenue stream derived from charging brokerages for real-time quotes. (Brokerages in turn only offered this service to their customers.) NASDAQ announced a deal to allow Google, the Wall Street Journal, and CNBC [cnet.com] to show real-time quotes for free. Yahoo Finance announced a similar deal with a different group (BATS Trading) to phase free real-time quotes throughout its site also.

Looks like the internet continues to bring down barriers to information.

Re:Simpsons already did it.

[lilfields]

I don't know why this is flamebait, Yahoo did actually start doing this about a month ago, but got no Slashdot coverage. I'm glad to see it done, 15 minutes/20 minutes were the actual delay times, and were kind of annoying...not 3 hours as some people have already stated. Anyhow, most brokers give you real-time quotes for free, such as Scottrade...others are a bit more stingy about it...such as ING. Hopefully this will force brokerage firms to lighten up on their lower tier subscription fees.

Re:Simpsons already did it.

[UncleTogie]

Yahoo! does this already.

Are you sure? Read the fine print at the bottom of the Yahoo finance page next time:

Quotes are updated automatically, but will be turned off after 25 minutes of inactivity. Quote data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, 20 minutes for NYSE and Amex. Real-Time continuous streaming quotes are available through our premium service.

Re:Simpsons already did it.

[Wister285]

Assuming Google quotes NASDAQ directly, the difference is that Yahoo! quotes ECNs instead as the managing editor over at CNBC explains:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/24927068/site/14081545/ [cnbc.com]

This has a wide range of implications, mainly how exchanges charge for their data. This will probably help NASDAQ to continue to put more pressure on the NYSE. It may be a good step though as I'd like to see the futures exchanges allow for their data services to be more freely available.

It also helps to empower the individual investor as the gap between the institutions and in the individuals closes. This can have unintended consequences though in terms of volatility as the retail money may get more fidgety with this more timely data. Either way, it should be interesting to watch this develop.

Re:Big deal

[greg1104]

Have you tried http://www.opentick.com/ [opentick.com] ? It's not always free, but it's so cheap it's close.

Re:ja1217

[pyite]

The best you can do is make a psuedo-ai that can make guesses based on data. And again, no one's made a computer good enough at guessing that it makes money.

Hahahahahahahahahaha. PLEASE keep thinking that. How do you think companies like D.E. Shaw & Co. [deshaw.com] exist? Not to mention Goldman Sachs [gs.com], etc.

The reason I get a paycheck twice is month, in part, is because you can create efficient algorithms to make money in financial markets. But please don't let that dissuade you from your obviously very informed opinion.

Re:First Free Real Time? No.

[Anonymous Coward]

finance.yahoo.com started real-time quotes a couple of weeks ago.

Re:This is a NASDAQ story, not a Google story

[Anonymous Coward]

To be fair though, Google did spend a lot of effort lobbying the SEC to do this. I read a while back their argument to the SEC and it was well done. Its a good example of a corporation using Washington lobbying to help the public while also helping themselves. Also the opening of this is not (as far as I know) limited to just Google. They have argued for an agreement that would make this information available to all, not just Google finance. Either way as a person who follows stocks I'm delighted to be able to get realtime pricing from Google or from any other site.

Not just Google.

[LargeMythicalReptile]

It's not just Google that's doing this. CNBC [cnbc.com] and the Wall Street Journal [wsj.com] also started providing free real-time quotes today. MSN Money [msn.com] has been doing this for a while.

Granted, some of these require a subscription (MSN, WSJ)--a point noted by the submitter--but all of these services appear to be free-as-in-beer. I don't think a subscription is that big a deal; YMMV.

From what I can tell, CNBC doesn't mention either a subscription or a daily/monthly limit; I admit I haven't looked at their service in detail though.

Re:This is a NASDAQ story, not a Google story

[DesignFlaw]

Very True. This is actually a new feed from Nasdaq called NLS (Nasdaq Last Sale). They have been working on it for quite some time and most major financial news sites went live with it today. AOL, MarketWatch, Google, WSJ and Yahoo are using this feed.

Barrons.com Free Real-time Quotes

[Skizzo]

Coincidentally, Barrons.com announced free real-time quotes today too http://online.barrons.com/article/SB121237840349237093.html [barrons.com]

Re:Simpsons already did it.

[Anonymous Coward]

yahoo used to do it, then they had to stop... legal stuff, at least that's what they said.

For a while, they just removed the "realtime" button, but you could type in the extension manually to get realtime quotes. Then they disabled that. They probably still have a more sophisticated method, but the quick n dirty brute force version was disabled.

Yawn...free real time at eTrade since 1996

[BrianCarlstrom]

eTrade has had free real time quotes with a free account for over a decade. For those that really want/need this information, it was not hard to get.

It is good if you can avoid an account, even a free one, to get this information now, but this seems a little over hyped to be on /.

Re:ja1217

[TubeSteak]

No one's done anything that is both efficient, accurate, and smart enough that it makes money.

The minute you can make a program that can do it, you have, essentially, a "forumla" for the stock market.

Uhhhh... invest in a financial instrument that is made up of S&P 500 or Fortune 500 stocks and you're guaranteed to make money in the long term. That's why everyone compares their rate of return to the S&P 500.

The only reason you would lose money in the stock market is if the entire stock market is tanking or if you've put most of your eggs in one (poorly performing) basket.

Re:Simpsons already did it.

[protohiro1]

Yahoo recently started offering realtime quotes: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=26853 [sfgate.com] Look during trading hours and you will see it them.

Re:Ctrl-r

[protohiro1]

You are wrong. It is free, it is real time: "Quotes delayed, except where indicated otherwise." During trading hours most quotes are real time. Press release: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=26853 [sfgate.com]

Re:Simpsons already did it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Check during the day when the exchanges are open.

Not only do they have real time quotes for NASDAQ, they also have real time for NYSE. Google is NASDAQ only.

http://ycorpblog.com/2008/05/28/real-time-stock-quotes-on-the-house/

Re:Ctrl-r

[UncleTogie]

Are you reading the bottom of the same http://finance.yahoo.com/ [yahoo.com] page that the rest of us get?

They state clearly, once again, at the bottom of said page:

Historical chart data and daily updates provided by Commodity Systems, Inc. (CSI). International historical chart data and daily updates provided by Hemscott Americas. Fundamental company data provided by Capital IQ. Quotes and other information supplied by independent providers identified on the Yahoo! Finance partner page. Quotes are updated automatically, but will be turned off after 25 minutes of inactivity. Quote data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, 20 minutes for NYSE and Amex. Real-Time continuous streaming quotes are available through our premium service.

Unless you think they're yanking our chain, that's the disclaimer as of 3 minutes ago. Seems pretty clear, doesn't it? In addition, according to the page you gave us on the Yahoo quotes:

The data comes via a deal with BATS Trading, an independent exchange. While its information doesn't exactly dovetail with the quotes other bigger exchanges would provide for individual stocks, BATS is said to be pretty close.

Pretty close? Good way to lose your shirt....

Re:Simpsons already did it.

[videoBuff]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080602/stocks_real_time_quotes.html?.v=3 [yahoo.com] BATS provides free real time quote to Yahoo. So Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. had to respond to that. Their business model is slightly different from BATS. After all BATS is trying to become an national securities exchange!

Re:Simpsons already did it.

[sarcas]

Yahoo! does this already.

Are you sure? Read the fine print at the bottom of the Yahoo finance page next time:

I am - Yahoo! Finance Launches Free Real-Time ECN Prices [yfinanceblog.com]. Of course, both the Y! and Google finance teams have been trying to do this for a while - in our case (obvious disclaimer: I work for Y!, although not on Finance) we have to thank Bats Trading Inc for providing us with the data. It's not universal yet, but the blog post above indicates that we're working on it.

Google don't indicate where they're getting their data from, but they've been fighting to do it for a while as well, and as they're starting out with NASDAQ, you can assume they'll be trying to roll it out to further exchanges and markets as well.

All good for the market, as is the competition.

Re:ja1217

[pyite]

If these algorithms actually worked, why would you need to be working for somebody else?

I never said I was creating these algorithms. While that could be fun and interesting, I only have a recreational interest in financial mathematics. Those that actually work on methods to make money in this manner typically have PhDs in varying fields (engineering, math, physics).

I said that this sort of thing pays my bills because I work for a Wall St. firm that makes some of its money doing this.

Re:Simpsons already did it.

[rmstar]

Yahoo lets you download way more than 20 years of stock history, with and without taking into account dividends. You can even download all that in a .csv.

F. ex: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=IBM [yahoo.com] shows IBM quotes going back to 1962.

Not Tick by Tick

[Danimoth]

I took a second to look at both Yahoo! and Google's quote system compared to my Thomson machine (actual real time, tick by tick quotes, market depth, etc.) and neither gave true real time reporting of the consolidated tape. Google seems to go off of the primary market center only, which for a heavily traded stock isn't so bad. For something a little thinner you could be getting quotes that can be very misleading. Yahoo, well, I couldn't figure out where they were getting their quotes, as they were some times dramatically different to actual quotes. Long story short, be careful.