Time and Sales

How far back do you maintain Time & Sales records?

The start date of Time & Sales records is dependent on the product, the oldest of which dates back to 1982. Product start dates can be found here.

Why is there no volume in my Time & Sales Regular Trade Session (pit) files?

Regular trade session files for T&S data from CME and CBOT do not have volume statistics as trade quantities are not recorded on a transaction-by-transaction basis.

Are bids and asks included in Time and Sales files?

No.

If I purchase daily updates of Time & Sales data, will I get historical data as well?

No. When an order is placed for daily updates of Time & Sales data, the first file included will be generated for the start date of the subscription. However, files are maintained in customer API directories for 30 days, enabling the customer to reference previous day’s data.

What time zone is the data stamped to?

NYMEX/COMEX T&S data is in Eastern Time (ET) until April 27, 2007 when it was converted to CT. CME/CBOT T&S data is in CT.

What is the timestamp granularity for each data type?

Time and Sales records have timestamps to the second.

How are trades within the same second aggregated in T&S data?

Trades that happen in the same second are each given a specific sequence number and are ordered in the same sequence that they were sent out over the market data feed.

Why am I seeing a volume discrepancy between my EOD and Time and Sales (T&S) data?

There can be differences in volumes due to inclusion/exclusion of trade quantities from different venues and trade types.

What is the significance of the trade sequence number?

The trade sequence number lists the order of records in the Time and Sales file. It does not correlate to the FIX sequence number. Each tradable product in the Time and Sales file has its own sequence number and every new file sent each day has a new set of sequence numbers.

What do the field headings mean?

Time and Sales headers display Commodity, Trade Date, Time and Price. For CME Globex Time and Sales, Quantity is added to the aforementioned headers.

Why is there no volume associated with RTH commodities?

RTH is an Open Outcry environment. Volume is not reported for any transaction. Only time and price are entered into the price reporting system by the market reporter.

What is sequence of record in these files?

These files are derived from FIX protocol.  Therefore, the sequence number is the official record of sequence.  A user should always sort by sequence number and not timestamp when using these files.

What does an “I” stand for?

“I” represents an Inserted price. A price may be inserted when there is a gap in the sequence of executed trades.

What does it mean for ETH ticks to have volume of 0?

An ETH tick with volume quantity of “0” indicates no trade was executed. This record is an example of an indicative price quote; that is, no trade occurred, but the market is “indicated”

What does the “X” or “C” stand for?

“X” represents a cancelled price and “C” represents a corrected price.

How can I make a chart using this data?

You must have software designed for charting to import the data files.