CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bloomberg
Prashanth G
Prashanth G

Reputation: 31

Bloomberg API - Request type

How to identify whether to make ReferenceData request or Subscription(MarketData) request using Bloomberg API based on input fields. I.e.. Based on Security and fields

Upvotes: 3

Views: 4767

Answers (1)

amaidment
amaidment

Reputation: 7268

ReferenceData ("//blp/refdata") is for static/historical/snapshot data. For example:

  • descriptive data for a ticker & field
  • historical tick/intraday/daily data for a ticker & field, which can be requested for today to get a current snapshot

MarketData ("//blp/mktdata") is for real-time subscriptions. For example:

  • rather than polling every interval for a value, you subscribe and get sent messages with updates.

Different fields are supported for reference data requests or market data subscriptions. In the Bloomberg Terminal, FLDS will show the different fields for a given ticker, and will indicate whether the field is for reference data or market data. For example, the reference data field for the last price is PX_LAST, whereas the market data field for the last price is LAST_PRICE.

If in doubt, you can always ask the live helpdesk to clarify whether a field is for reference data or market data. They have previously sent me a spreadsheet detailing the available API fields. However, I'm afraid I'm not able to share this - I only mention it as something you can ask for. But, be aware that this would only be a snapshot and the canonical reference is FLDS.

If you want to further understand the difference between reference data requests and market data subscriptions, I would suggest that you have a look at the examples that are included in the download from WAPI.

Upvotes: 1

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