Finage is using ETF and fund data APIs to power their research platform. Learn more about their Finage Data experience. 

 

If you were an investor in the 1980s, you were almost certainly unable to function without a Bloomberg Terminal. The framework first appeared in 1982 and has since remained in the investment industry's toolkit, alongside an ever-growing range of datasets and analytics tools that aid investment professionals in making well-informed decisions. Data used to be a weapon that the well-heeled investor had access to. Data and other information is now accessible to all types of investors across a variety of channels. Data is here to stay, and it's becoming more available, but the idea of more and more knowledge isn't without its drawbacks. 

 

Institutional investors may have access to data that is limited to a terminal or otherwise inflexible format in the case of ETF data, which is a significant drawback for many investing use cases. In the first place, many individual investors do not have access to the data. Questions regarding the data's accuracy, timeliness, and sources remain for those who have access to it. Positively, there is an increasing trend of data standardization in the ETF industry.  Finage, a leading supplier of data to investment professionals, has seen this pattern emerge in real time. 

 

This shift toward structured, reliable, and accurate data would undoubtedly benefit institutional investors. But what about private investors and others who can't afford fund managers' prices? ETF Finance is an investment analysis platform that provides users with institutional-quality data and resources. They use Finage's ETF Global Constituents data feed to help their users gain access to information. ETF Finance's Adam Baitch spoke with us about the platform's mission, their high data standards, and why they chose Finage's ETF data. 

 

Creating a level playing field 

ETF Finance was created and is run by industry veterans, so they knew that ETF data was important to a wide range of investors, including their own consumer base of individual investors. 

 

“In recent years, financial data has become more commoditized, but financial networks have lagged behind. Platforms still don't typically sell complete ETF holdings to customers, but we've discovered that it's now feasible and even cost-effective to do so,” Baitch clarified. “We want to provide consumers with data that will assist them in making well-informed decisions.” 

 

To help level the playing field between them and Wall Street, the research platform offers tools such as real-time quotes, fund data through the Fund Network, brokerage integration, and technical news outlets. When the need for high-quality ETF data emerged, the organization conducted a comparative evaluation of possible suppliers because it is committed to the democratization of knowledge in the investment industry. 

 

Choosing the correct data source 

It's critical to choose the right data providers in an information-rich world. “Customers prefer institutional goods that are well documented, follow simple and understandable guidelines rather than anything more opaque,” Thomas said in his interview.  ETF Finance's user base demanded nothing less than high-quality data. To that end, they created a checklist of qualities they wanted in a data provider, including data consistency, data completeness, and platform reliability. 

“First and foremost, we asked if this [data] matched other publicly accessible tools including quarterly filings?” Baitch explained. “How often is it changed, and how trustworthy is it?” Different providers have different column sets in terms of completeness, and we decided to have the most usable data for our customers.” 

ETF Global Constituents is a product that includes complete holdings data for over 2,000 US-listed ETFs. The data points reflect the ETFs' actual assets, including currency, derivatives, and short positions. Is this the last piece of the puzzle? It was all about platform dependability and developer friendliness for ETF Finance. The API-based integrations provided by Finage were a significant benefit. 

 

Taking advantage of ETF data 

ETF Finance's premium users have complete access to the platform's holdings info, while basic users only have access to a subset. The platform provides users with high-quality data that was previously only available to Wall Street professionals, including information on ETFs.“We intend to deliver a proprietary feature called Fund Lookthrough that will use [ETF Constituents] data to show users the stocks are in the funds they're holding,” Baitch explained. “They'll be able to get a better idea of what they're exposed to.” 

The platform's mission to make the inaccessible available to all continued with the use of ETF Global Constituents info. It's a "more full network, meaning happy customers," says with ETFC data integrated with Finage offerings. “Finage has a lot to offer in terms of usability, customer loyalty, and the opportunity to develop new features,” says the author. 

 

Organizational Financing 
With Finage for Organizations, you can empower your team to get to research faster. Eliminate the burden of maintaining and integrating various data sources by storing all of your owned, rented, and transformed data in one location. Utilize our cloud-based platform so you can concentrate on what matters most: growing your company. 

Your Analysts Should Be Free 
With Finage for Organizations, you can empower your team to get to research faster. Eliminate the burden of maintaining and integrating various data sources by storing all of your owned, rented, and transformed data in one location. Utilize our cloud-based platform so you can concentrate on what matters most: growing your company. 

 

Finage for Organizations drastically decreases the amount of time spent collecting, arranging, and preparing data for review through your organization's various categories. 

 

Instead, the data experts will focus on what they were hired to do: uncovering insights and extracting value from your data. 

 

The Finage platform is a cost-effective, stable, and reliable data management platform built specifically for financial data. On Finage, your data is organized for usability and indexed for ticker-level search in a clean, harmonized, and standardized format. With a single location for all of your files, you'll be able to share and collaborate more effectively across departments, save money on operations, and have less data-management headaches.