Security lookup at data providers

A new security requires up to four connectors with their URL extensions as well as details such as name, ticker, maturity, distribution frequency and denomination. The lookup at the data providers determines these details from ISIN, currency, stock exchange and asset class. It checks every proposed connector with a request for real price data before you take it over. For the freely accessible data providers neither GTNet nor a paid subscription is needed.

The Search button is located in the edit dialog of the security after the currency field. It becomes active as soon as ISIN, currency, stock exchange and asset class are filled in. The asset class is required because it determines which data providers and connectors come into question: a bond is looked up at other sources than a share, and a bond receives neither a dividend nor a split connector. A ticker you have already entered serves as an additional search term. The lookup saves nothing; the chosen values are transferred to the edit dialog, where you check them and save as usual.

graph TD
    A[Enter ISIN, currency, stock exchange and asset class] --> B[Search]
    B --> C[Data providers covering stock exchange and asset class are asked]
    C --> D[The same listing of different providers is merged into one row]
    D --> E[The URL extension of each connector is derived and a trial request is run]
    E --> F[Choose the listing and one connector per feed]
    F --> G[Apply fills the edit dialog]
    G --> H[Check and save]

Data providers asked

The lookup searches SIX, Deutsche Börse (Xetra and Frankfurt), Wiener Börse, Euronext, Yahoo, onvista, Boursorama, Consorsbank and OpenFIGI. A provider is asked only when it covers the chosen stock exchange and the kind of instrument; the exchanges themselves supply the most detailed master data, for bonds for example the maturity, the denomination and the coupon dates. EOD Historical Data is asked in addition when a Connector-Api-Key is stored for this connector. When a provider does not answer or answers with an error, it appears in the Hints table; the results of the other providers are kept.

Most providers cannot find an index by its ISIN, and its symbol follows no fixed rule (Yahoo carries the S&P 500 as ^GSPC). For an index GT therefore first determines the index code, for example at Nasdaq Nordic or in the index list of EOD Historical Data, and then asks Yahoo and EOD Historical Data with this code. When no source finds the code, enter it in the Ticker/symbol field before the search, for example OMXH25 for the OMX Helsinki 25.

Tables “Hints”

What the lookup could not resolve is shown in two tables with the columns Severity, Field / topic and Hint. A table appears only when there is something to report. The Hints table is placed above the base data and concerns the lookup as a whole; it appears even when no listing was found. The Hints on the selected listing table is placed between the base data and the connectors and changes with the chosen listing.

The most important hint concerns the Stock exchange. When a provider does not find the security on the chosen stock exchange but on another one, the hint names that stock exchange. An example is Chegg (ISIN US1630921096), which is traded on the NYSE. When it is looked up with the stock exchange NASDAQ, Boursorama and onvista report that they found it on XNYS. Since US shares are traded on all US exchanges, the connectors deliver prices anyway, and the wrong stock exchange would otherwise go unnoticed. When the lookup finds no listing at all, this hint is an Error, otherwise a Warning.

For the chosen listing the lookup reports the following:

• No provider delivers a value for Trading from. The form then keeps its value, for a new security 2000-01-03, even if the prices start much later.
• For a directly held bond the Active until date, the Distribution Frequency or the Denomination is missing.
• For a distributing security neither the master data nor a dividend connector deliver the Distribution Frequency.
• No provider delivers the Ticker/symbol.
• The master data of a provider could not be fetched, so the row shows only the values of the search.
• The type a provider reports contradicts the chosen asset class; in the base data Type contradicts is then checked.
• Two providers report different values for Trading from, Active until date, Distribution Frequency or Denomination. The hint names the deviating and the value taken over with their providers. Different spellings of the name are not reported.

A missing value means that the corresponding field in the edit dialog remains unchanged. Check it after applying.

Table “Base data”

Each row is a listing, i.e. the security on the chosen stock exchange in the chosen currency. When several providers find the same listing, their details are merged into one row; the Provider column names all sources involved. The details of the exchange itself take precedence, the other providers only add what is still missing. The Asset class and Financial instrument columns show your choice. When a provider reports another type, for example a bond instead of a share, Type contradicts is checked; then check the asset class before taking over.

When the providers find the same security under different tickers, several rows result whose names are often spelled differently, for example «FIVERR INTL» and «Fiverr International». In the Take over name column you check which name is transferred to the edit dialog, regardless of the row you choose for the connectors. The first name that is not written entirely in capitals is proposed.

Expanding a row shows further master data such as Issuer country, Trading from, Active until date, Distribution Frequency, Denomination, Product hyperlink and Stock exchange hyperlink, each with the provider the value comes from. Further data of the provider lists details GT has no field of its own for, such as the coupon of a bond.

• The Distribution Frequency comes from the provider or is derived from the past distributions. For a distributing fund or a listing traded for less than a year, GT never proposes None.
• The Stock exchange hyperlink comes from the exchange itself or is built from the ticker or the ISIN for many further exchanges, for example NASDAQ, NYSE, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, South Korea, Toronto, Sydney, Milan, Madrid, Stuttgart and Munich. For the Bolsa Institucional de Valores (BIVA) in Mexico GT asks the exchange for the page of the issuer, for Stockholm and Copenhagen the Nasdaq Nordic search for the page of the security.
• The Product hyperlink is built only from issuer pages, currently for funds and ETFs of UBS. Pages of comparison portals are not proposed.

Connector tables

Once you have chosen a listing, the tables History connector, Intraday connector, Dividend connector and Split connector appear below it. Every activated connector is offered that supports the stock exchange and the asset class and whose URL extension can be derived from the data found or that needs none. Connectors that require an API key appear only when it is stored.

For every connector GT runs a Trial request, as is also done when the security is saved, and shows a Sample value with its date and the number of Records delivered. The Detail column explains a failed trial request. Only a connector whose trial request returned OK can be chosen. For dividends and splits No data can be chosen as well, since many securities simply had no such event in the period checked. When exactly one connector of a table can be chosen, it is already selected.

For an asset class that cannot have dividends or splits, such as a directly held bond, the corresponding table does not appear, just as in the edit dialog. When the instrument distributes nothing, the table of dividend connectors is disabled and no dividend connector is taken over.

Apply

Apply closes the dialog and transfers the details of the chosen listing and the chosen connectors with their URL extensions to the edit dialog. For a feed without a chosen connector the previous setting remains unchanged. The Distribution Frequency comes from the chosen dividend connector; when it leaves the frequency open, for example because the security distributed for the first time in the current year, GT takes the value the other dividend connectors agree on. Check the values taken over and save the security as usual; GT checks the connectors once more when saving.

Next to Search the GTNet Lookup button may appear. It asks other GT instances in GTNet and is independent of the lookup described here.

GT uses the same lookup for an ISIN change to create the new security. There GT chooses the listing and the connectors itself, without this dialog.