DataTools Futures

Paritech's coverage of futures markets and other international end-of-day data is second to none. The result is the DataTools program, which has been designed to make futures data easy to download, organise and understand.

DataTools provides end of day prices from the futures and spot markets worldwide, concentrating on the most liquid markets with 86 contracts in 13 different markets. Data Tools includes sophisticated mechanisms for the automatic creation of spliced continuos and back-adjusted continuous contracts, contract pricing and position sizing/risk management.

• Futures Prices - financial and commodity futures from 13 international exchanges.
• Cash Prices - major international stock indices and cash metal prices.

Click here to view a list of the available markets.

Data is provided both on a historical and end of day basis. The DataTools program is provided free of charge with the historical data CD .

* Please note that a historical database/program is required to use the DataTools service.

Update Times

Note: When Daylight Saving begins in Australia, it ends in North America, which pushes back the delivery of the Final Edition by hours. Prices are posted for those North American markets that are already available by 10.00 am.

Continuous Contracts

These are essential to any futures trader, as they allow the display of the long-term history of a market from a single chart. DataTools comes equipped with ready-made continuous contracts as part of its database, but also offers users the ability to change the underlying roll settings to suit personal requirements.

Continuous contracts are produced in two forms - back-adjusted and spliced - and are updated automatically, as part of the daily update routine.

Contract Details and Pricing

If you buy 3 Live Cattle contracts on the CME, and the price goes from 77.53 to 80.00, how much would you make in Australian Dollars? DataTools can answer this question because it stores and displays information about contract specifications and foreign exchange rates to enable the necessary calculations to be made.

This calculation would be done in the "Contract Details and Pricing" module, where you can look up pricing details for any market and perform trade simulations

There is also a "Currency Converter", where you can see the latest forex rates and convert between currencies. These tools help to take the guess-work out of trading on international exchanges.

Risk Management

As a corollary to the Contract Pricing module, DataTools offers a Risk Management module where you can work out how many to contracts to trade in any international market for a given level of risk. Just specify an entry price, a stop price and the amount to risk (in any of the supported currencies) and the answer is quickly at hand.

In addition, there is a "Risk Equaliser" which allows you to compare markets on the basis of recent volatility, tick size and exchange rates to see just how they stack up against each other.

For instance, if you're accustomed to trading S&P contracts in lots of 1, how many FT-100 contracts offer the same degree of exposure? This tool can be used to calculate how many contracts to trade on each side of any intermarket spread, e.g. between U.S. 10-year Notes and Australian 10-year Bonds

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DataTools Foreign Exchange

Data Service 12 month Forex subscription $198.00 per annum
DataTools Forex History Cd $99.00 (compulsory for new subscription)

13 spot cross-rates against the U.S. Dollar, updated within the program's Currency Converter. The DataTool FX download software package updates end-of-day prices for 82 currency pairs.
Click Here to view available Forex codes

The foreign exchange market differs from stock markets or futures markets in that there is no physical location or central exchange where trading takes place. Instead, the market consists of a network of large banks and dealers, with much of the trading handled over the phone. In recent years, private traders have been able to gain access to this "over-the-counter" market through retail-level currency brokers and online trading platforms.

Daily turnover in the forex market is enormous - in excess of a trillion US dollars.

85% of all transactions involve a group of currencies known as the "majors." These currencies include the US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar. About 60% of trading is concentrated in the 3 leading pairs - USD/EUR (30%), USD/JPY (20%) and GBP/USD (10%).

The interbank forex market trades seamlessly around the clock, following the sun across the globe for five days each week. Trading begins early on Monday morning in Sydney and finishes in New York on Friday afternoon, with activity usually peaking during the morning hours in London.

Quoting Conventions

In every currency transaction, a trader simultaneously buys one currency and sells another. The first currency in the pair is referred to as the base currency, and the second currency is the counter or quote currency. The U.S Dollar, as the world's dominant currency, is usually considered the base currency for quotes - e.g USD/JPY, USD/CHF, and USD/CAD. This means that quotes are expressed as a unit of $1 USD per the other currency quoted in the pair.

A quote of USD/JPY 120.05 means that 1 unit of the base currency (one US dollar) is equal to 120.05 Japanese Yen

Exceptions to this rule include the Euro, British Pound and Australian dollar. These currencies are typically quoted as US dollars per foreign currency. The table below lists some prominent currency pairings: