Looking for an investment data & analysis service that will save you time and help you make better stock picking decisions? Not sure which service is best for you? This guide is for you.
Few things in life are more important than managing your money effectively, and when it comes to investment management, there are a lot of choices out there of investment data & analysis services to help you. To make it easier for you to find one which best suits your needs, we’ve identified some of the key areas you might like to think about when you’re making this important decision.
- What does it cost, and what is included?
- Are you interested in Stocks only, or Stocks, Funds, ITs, ETFs and more?
- Will you get all the features you need?
- Do you need live prices, or will delayed prices suffice?
- Will you get live news and other timely data feeds to go with the prices?
- Will it suit your investing and trading philosophy?
- Does it provide good customer support?
- Is it billed annually, or is monthly subscription an option?
- Is there a free trial period, or is a refund available if not satisfied after a trial period?
By the end of this guide, you should be fully equipped to ask all the right questions of each provider both before and during your trial period.
1. What does it cost, and what is included?
One of the main factors to look at when considering a subscription to an investment data service is how the subscription is packaged. This is really important when comparing prices, as services that may seem cheaper may actually be more expensive when you include everything you need. We’ve identified three main types:
- Standard packages – Off the shelf, everything included for the cost advertised.
- Add-on cost data – Here you normally have a standard package of features but perhaps UK data coverage only. If you want data for other markets, like Europe or US, you pay an add-on fee on top of the advertised subscription cost.
- Add-on cost features – In this case all data (e.g. UK, US) is provided as part of the standard package but some features will either be restricted or unavailable, for example, additional technical analysis indicators. There might also be additional charges to access your subscription on your mobile or to see content without in-program advertising.
2. Are you interested in Stocks only, or Stocks, Funds, ITs, ETFs and more?
It may sound obvious, but an important consideration when selecting your investment data service is, does it cover everything you might want to invest in?
Some services focus mainly on shares in different markets whereas others cover Funds, Investment Trusts, ETFs. Then there are Foreign Exchange. Commodities, Cryptos, the list goes on and on.
It’s also not always obvious from websites what exactly they do cover or how comprehensive their coverage is.
If it’s not clear on the website before subscribing, it’s worthwhile fully interrogating each of the instrument areas you are interested in and making sure they are adequately covered when trialling the service (see Section 9 for more on Trial periods).
For example, check AIM as well as FTSE 100 companies and search for smaller funds as well as the well-known ones. Also, ensure the same level of analysis data is available for smaller, less known examples.
3. Will you get all the features you need?
It’s really important to consider what features you need and whether the service provides them all. Again, this might seem obvious but it’s worth exploring all the options to make sure you’re not missing out on features that will make your investing life easier and help you avoid paying for add-ons or multiple subscriptions, now or in the future.
To help you decide, here are some of the key features used by investors and traders.
- News – you’ll want a timely & reliable news service. News stories often trigger a price movement so it’s important you are up to date with all the latest reports and announcements, particularly if you’re trading. In the UK, it’s vital to make sure RNS is included as this is where you get to see all the regulatory notices from UK companies including the first look at financial results and trading updates. As with data feeds, it’s crucial to know how quickly this news is being delivered to you – is it live, delayed, or end-of-day? (See Section 5 for more on timeliness)
- Stock Screening – The stock market is a big place, so the ability to narrow your search for potential purchases by setting simple or complicated search filters (or screens) is a very useful feature. For new investors, it can also be useful to have a library of off-the-shelf filters to get you started with suggestions of areas meriting further investigation.
- Level 2 – Level 2 is a detailed, intraday view of a single share which shows the full range of open orders, not just the current best bid and ask price. This is needed most by traders, to identify possible trading opportunities as early as possible. You probably won’t want this when you’re first starting out or if you’re not trading; however, if trading is your eventual intention, it’s worth considering a platform where you can upgrade to get Level 2.
- Charts – Most investors like charts – they can tell you a great deal at a glance – and if you’re a fan of technical analysis, charts will be front and centre of your investment strategy. Most services provide some kind of charting feature but again you should ask if they let you do everything you need? For example, can you annotate and draw on the charts, is there a wide range of up-to-date technical indicators available, and can you set the time frame to show the history you’re interested in?
- Alarms – If you are not going to be glued to your screen 24/7, alarm messages or emails can really assist you, making sure you get notified of important events no matter where you are. Alarms typically include price movements, news stories, results announcements, directors’ dealings, broker rating changes and more. You should find out how many alarms you can set up and whether you can configure them to cover your areas of interest.
- Portfolio Management – If you are looking for a tool to manage your portfolio outside of your broker or perhaps consolidate all your investments in one place, this can be a great feature to have as part of your investment data & analysis service The service might include such things as automatic dividend detection, detailed analysis options and even Capital Gains Tax calculators too.
Do make sure you are aware of restrictions on any of these features, which are often limited based on your subscription level. For example, the number of chart indicators, the number of alarms, the number of different portfolios / watches lists you can have or the number of shares in each.
If in doubt, ask the customer support – it will also be an opportunity to gauge the level of support you can expect to receive as a subscriber. See Section 7 for more on customer support.
4. Do you need live prices, or will delayed prices suffice?
Like many investors, you may assume all the pricing information you see on a platform or website is in real-time but this is rarely the case; it all depends on the market and what the provider is paying for.
Stock market price data is typically split into three types:
- End of day – Prices are updated after the market has closed every day.
- 15 minute delayed – You see price changes on your screen 15 minutes after they occurred.
- Real-time (or Live) – Price information is instantaneous. Real-time data is most commonly used by Traders allowing them to react quickly to changing market conditions. You should be aware that real-time is expensive: exchanges charge a great deal more for the live data.
To makes things more complicated, many providers don’t openly highlight the timeliness of the data you’re getting; this can vary even between different markets on the same service.
If you’re unsure, it’s worth digging around on websites to try to find out; if you can’t find anything, ask the support service, particularly if you are intending to be a trader, in which case accurate, up-to-the-second prices will be vital.
5. Will you get live news and other timely data feeds to go with the prices?
The timeliness of other data, particularly news but also financial data, economic data, forecasts, directors’ dealings and many more, may vary.
Exactly when such things are updated depends both on the frequency of updates from the primary provider (exchanges, regulatory news service etc) and also on how quickly such updates are distributed by the service you subscribe to.
If up to date company financials are important to you, make sure you ask your provider how regularly these are updated; you could even pick a stock you are interested in and test that its information is up-to-date, for example by checking the company website, during your trial period.
6. Will it suit your investing and trading philosophy?
Are you keen to find your own investment and trading opportunities? Looking for direction or keen to follow others? Whatever your philosophy, it’s worthwhile trying to find an investment data service to match.
When researching the providers you will no doubt quickly get a feel of whether they are more focussed on investment or trading, or cover both. What may be less obvious is how the service can help you make better decisions beyond the data and analysis.
We’ve identified three main types of service:
- Ranking systems – Ultimately these tell subscribers what they should buy. This makes picking shares a lot easier but no ranking methodologies are 100% reliable, so these can be risky, particularly in volatile market conditions. Also, following rankings is not always the most profitable, as all subscribers are seeing the same tipped shares so they are essentially following the crowd, rather than making their own decisions. In addition, ranking systems typically won’t tell you when you should sell, either, until it’s too late.
- Community tips & recommendations – Some investment data services supplement their data with forums where subscribers share investment suggestions. Like social media, forums can be really useful and inspire you to look at stocks you otherwise might not. But just like social media, it’s important to be aware of those who “ramp” or “pump and dump” shares for their own benefit. A service which actively moderates its forum can really show its value here.
- Education & support – these types of services provide all the data and analysis, but also the education and support to find your own way. Obviously, more time and effort is required from subscribers who want more than instant recommendations, but the reward is that you can develop your own strategies and ultimately find more lucrative investments for yourself. In addition, if the education is good enough, you’re more likely to understand why you bought a stock and hence know if and when you should sell it. The key to these services is: do they have good educational content in place and a responsive customer support team to help every step of the way?
7. Does it provide good customer support?
Like most services in life, investment data services need to provide a level of customer support.
Depending on the provider this can vary from a very basic support function to a combination of phone, email, chat (both human or AI), WhatsApp, written guides and videos etc.
When all’s said and done, we only really discover how good the support is when we need some help. As this may not always be the case when you’re trialling a product, try to take the opportunity to test the support as well as the product itself.
Call the support number or send in an email and see if you get through and what kind of response you get.
Are the support team friendly? Are they knowledgeable? Can you access support easily, whether by phone or email? Whatever happens you’re sure to learn if the quality and accessibility of support is likely to meet your needs.
8. Is it billed annually, or is monthly subscription an option?
A simpler choice for your subscription is how long to subscribe for. Monthly of course means you’re not tied in long term but annual billing is likely to reduce your equivalent monthly cost.
If after a few months on a monthly subscription you’re happy with the service, it may well be worth considering switching to an annual payment.
One thing to beware of is annual subscriptions being advertised with their monthly equivalent rate. When it comes to payment you will still be required to pay the full 12 months upfront.
9. Is there a free trial period, or is a refund available if not satisfied after a trial period?
Most investment data & analysis services come with a free trial period or money back equivalent and sometimes both.
Typically, you will have up to a month to try out the service while still being eligible for a full refund; alternatively you may get a month’s use before you start getting charged.
Always make a note of the date your trial period ends, and ensure you make the most of the trial. Check out and test all the areas of this guide. Make sure you try out the customer support, and assess the training resources available.
Conclusion
Now we’ve been through what to consider when choosing the right investment data & analysis service for you, you should be fully equipped to ask all the right questions of each provider both before and during your trial period.
Ultimately you should now be able to make a more informed decision about the service that is best for you and your investments.
