ADVFN

ADVFN (Advanced Financial Network) is an international provider of investment information, listed on the London AIM, it operates websites in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the USA and the UK.

There are a dozen different subscription levels ranging from a free basic service through to Global Guru (£129.99+VAT p.c.m.). However, even the free service provides a considerable amount of vital data including live, streaming market prices and indices.



Free services include:


Monitor: View live share market indices, individual shares prices and trades. Free and bronze level members get limited streaming. Access is on first-in-first-out (FIFO) terms which means that you can get bumped off the Monitor at peak times. Silver and higher subscribers get unlimited streaming.



• Charts showing indices, shares and forex with up to five technical indicators.



• Trade Reports detailing the latest deal data for shares, indices and forex (price, size of deal, spread, time of deal, buy/sell, buy/sell volume etc.).



• Breaking and historical news from over 20 international sources.



• Company specific data is available to download. By selecting a company you can get 28 items of key financial data (P/E, dividend yield, EPS etc.); historic returns (7 days to 5 years); ratios (investment, leverage, liquidity & solvency, operating), alpha and beta coefficients; dividends; fundamentals (P&L and balance sheet summaries).



• Alerts, which can be set up to include 42 alert parameters (e.g. bid price, offer price, % change etc.) and commands (e.g. drops by, less than, equal to etc.)



• Portfolio: Static and streaming price options, charts, short positions, news etc.



Verdict


The sheer volume and depth of the data can make ADVFN appear pretty daunting, but perseverance is worthwhile. Make the site map your first port of call and concentrate on the menu bar and the drop-down menus.

Apart from the density of the content, the only gripe is the absence of a resident share dealing service. Trades must be conducted through another independent platform which somewhat nullifies the benefits of live, streaming data.