Code recognition is always a difficult subject and one of the most frequent questions asked to support: I see data for that specific stock in Google and Yahoo and Mastock tells me the code is not recognized... What’s wrong with Mastock?
To start with the code recognition algorithm in Mastock is very simple: When asked, the provider should send data (1) and those data have to be recent, i.e. less than two weeks (2). If those two conditions are met, then we are in business.
The second part to understand is data are owned by the companies managing the markets like NASDAQ, NYSE, ASX, NSE... or companies owning the right on specific indexes like Dow Jones or S&P. These companies sell licenses to third parties for distribution resellers, like Reuters, MorningStar, Telekurs. Yahoo or Google, either get data from the market companies or from resellers. Those licenses, obviously, have a lot of parameters, like delay from real time, or right to show, right to let the user download data. The key point for Mastock is the provider should be authorized to let the user download historical data. Without a minimum of history, no pont trying to display an indicator.
This is why, for instance, you cannot get the Dow Jones Industrial Average from Yahoo or Google... They are authorized to show, but not to let you download. Fortunately, Quandl is authorized to let you download with a code BCB/UDJIAD1. EODData as well but it is not free.
The various provider have pros and con and a different coverage. Yahoo has the largest historical data coverage, while Google has great coverage for intraday. Mastock uses everybody strengths.
Yahoo: http://finance.yahoo.com/exchanges
Google: Only covers US, UK, Canada, China and Hong Kong BUT great intraday coverage: http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlefinance/disclaimer/
India_NSE covers the Mumbai Indian Exchange
Trading_ASX: Covers the Australian Market (ASX)
KBD_Japan: Covers several Japanese markets
EODData (Platinum): http://www.eoddata.com/default.aspx
Quandl: http://www.quandl.com
In order to know if Yahoo, or Google, will support a specific code, you have to go to the web page for that code, follow the link to historical prices, and look for:
- The history is recent, less than two weeks old
- There is somewhere an icon to let the user download data
