If you ask the most successful investors the secret behind successful investing, they’ll most likely attribute their mastery to a beacon of light that guided them by providing data, news, in-depth data, and a whole suite of trading tools on their desktops.
It’s no secret that investing successfully isn’t easy. Beyond understanding the basic ins and outs of investing, there are numerous macro and microeconomic events that may affect your stock portfolio. Therefore, staying abreast of crucial market events and financial news can be as vital for everyday traders as it is for the pros – and both rely on cutting edge information platforms in Benzinga Pro and Bloomberg.
For most investors, the financial tools offered by Benzinga Pro and Bloomberg have been indispensable in helping them score rich returns. Today, we’ll look at how these trading softwares measures up in the ever-evolving investing landscape.
Benzinga Pro vs. Bloomberg Terminal: An Overview
Benzinga Pro is your go-to source for real-time newsfeed as the headlines break on earnings releases, activist stakes, analyst ratings, conference call key points, market movers as well as more actionable alerts. Run by the financial news outlet Benzinga, this real-time newsfeed platform was built with the intention to assist the average, everyday trader, and investor in their endeavors.
Screen your favorite U.S. stocks by sector, price, and market capitalization as well as view a breakdown of your favorite stock’s financial statements and important SEC filings.
Benzinga Pro’s direct feed of exclusive needs is bolstered by a vast collection of online news sources. Unlike Bloomberg Terminal, Benzinga Pro is much cheaper – with the basic pricing tier starting at $99 per month compared to over $20,000 per year for a Bloomberg Terminal. Besides the major price difference, Benzinga Pro is designed for the average trader who wants to gain a professional advantage without incurring an exorbitant cost.
The Bloomberg Terminal, on the other hand, is a software system that’s designed for financial markets and trading desks. It brings together real-time data on all markets, in-depth research, breaking news, powerful analytics, communication tools as well as execution capabilities in one integrated solution.
Over 2,700 news professionals in 120 countries let Bloomberg provide coverage of economies, markets, companies, and politics to ensure you get up-to-the-minute information when you need it. Bloomberg’s vast array of services and products don’t come for cheap – you may pay over $20,000 per year.
Benzinga Pro vs. Bloomberg Terminal: Features and Tools Comparison
News
Benzinga Pro offers real-time Newsfeed access where you can receive expert analysis and previews on upcoming financial events. With this news alert service platform, you’ll stay on top of every headline that weighs in on your portfolio. Alerts are sent right into your inbox or delivered as live sound or desktop alerts. Benzinga Pro’s Newsfeed has maintained a reputation for delivering breaking news faster than the mainstream news outlets. Thousands of everyday traders around the world use Benzinga Pro to inform their trading decisions.
Bloomberg Terminal’s news is reported as soon as it happens and from where it happens. Over 2,700 news professionals in 120 countries provide up-to-the-minute access to crucial market news as well as great coverage of economies, markets, companies, and governments.
Real-Time Audio News
Benzinga Pro stands out from its competition for its Audio Squawk – an audio live stream that broadcasts from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. eastern time alerting you to important market numbers and news. These alerts may include analyst ratings, breaking news, volume spikes, rumors, option alerts, real-time market updates and more.
You’ll receive all these without losing screen space – just open Squawk and let it play in the background. Squawk will also filter all the trading noise to only share the key headlines and news.
Bloomberg Terminal doesn’t offer real-time audio live streaming but you can trust in Bloomberg Briefs to deliver news, calendars, market data and commentary directly to your inbox. Its downloadable reports provide market-leading intelligence as well as actionable insights and ideas into diverse markets.
Chat Rooms
Amateurs and full-time day traders can leverage Benzinga Pro’s chat room to ask questions, find trading ideas, share news, and more. This chat room helps connect the Benzinga Pro community together irrespective of your experience level. There are also multiple chatroom channels – including its main chat room, community support, and more. You can listen in and watch Benzinga’s premarket prep show every day in the chat.
Bloomberg Terminal offers Instant Bloomberg, a chat tool used by its financial community. Completely integrated with the Bloomberg Terminal, this chat-parsing technology allows you to capture chat text, incorporate vital deal details, and send them to your trading platform. Share data sets, screens, Excel files, or charts via Instant Bloomberg to collaborate easily and quickly with your colleagues and trading partners.
Market Monitoring
Benzinga Pro’s Unusual Options Activity gives you exclusive access to its options market monitoring feature that alerts you of large block trades executed at or close to the bid, or option sweeps performed at or near the bid. These are typically vast and aggressive trades that could be an indication that someone is taking a huge bearish or bullish bet.
The unusual options activity signals tool lets you filter by sector, watchlists, price-to-earnings ratio, market cap, dividend yield, price change, and average 14-day volume – with the option to set desktop notifications or audio alerts. You may also take advantage of Benzinga Pro’s unusual options calendar to analyze historical data on various options’ activities.
Bloomberg Terminal’s market monitor feature is quite different from what Benzinga Pro offers but it still gets the job done. These are various market monitor pages, some covering a single market sector or asset class and others covering various asset classes. You’ll also see a listing of the day’s largest economic releases and equity index movements from across the globe.
Movers/Screeners/Scanners
Benzinga Pro’s Movers tool gives you an up-to-the-minute feed of the largest losers and gainers in the stock market. You’ll easily pinpoint the top market movers in order to leverage news catalysts. Whether you want long term gainers or quick gainers over a short period, the Movers feature will help you find them. You can also customize the Movers tool to suit your trading strategy. For instance, you can choose to see losers, gainers or both as well as filter by sector, price, market cap, etc.
The Screener tool complements the Movers feature by giving you a vast range of criteria to narrow down to a list of stocks that align with your trading strategy. Use technical analysis, fundamental analysis or both to find your desired stocks.
The brand-new Scanner tool is similar, allowing you to scan stocks in real-time. Choose from a wide variety of filters to fit your unique strategy, or choose presets based on winning strategies.
Why Benzinga Pro is the Best Choice for the Average Trader
The average trader wants a not-so-sophisticated tool without breaking the bank – and Benzinga Pro doubles up as that. Starting at $99 per month, you’ll get access to a curated software that has just what you need – no excess clutter. Besides, you’ll enjoy stellar customer support that’s customized to your unique needs, which includes weekly educational videos and webinars.
Choosing the Best Trading Software for You
Here are some attributes to consider before you buy a trading software:
- Price. A huge price tag doesn’t always mean you’re getting the best. The trick here is to assess whether what you’re paying matches what you’re getting in return. Look out for any commissions charged on your trades – a few dollars’ difference may have a huge impact for you.
- Ease of use. A trading software should offer all the necessary trading tools and features without being overly complicated to use. The platform should be intuitive and the most important features should be within a click’s reach. Watch some YouTube tutorials to ensure you understand how to navigate the platform.
- Research tools. Tools like market analysis, market movement news, stock movers/screeners and expert editorials are important for successful trading. Ensure your preferred trading platform offers the right tools to complement your trading strategy.
- Mobile app/compatibility. Mobile compatible trading platforms can help you trade on-the-go – a great benefit if you want to watch your charts 24/7.
- Customer support. Trading software come with their fair share of challenges, so you want customer support staff on standby in case you need help resolving an issue.
Final Thoughts
Knowledge is power, and the trading software you choose can be the difference between racking up huge investment returns and losing all your years worth of work. The right tool will act as a beacon of light – providing market insight, great research tools, and commentary to guide your investing decisions. You’ll connect with a community of traders who can help you avert costly trading mistakes.
Benzinga Pro excels at what it does – providing the average day trader with real-time knowledge to help them score profits. Beginners can jump right in with ease while pro traders can take advantage of the more robust features.
Disclaimer: Benzinga is a news organization and does not provide financial advice and does not issue stock recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Benzinga Pro is for informational purposes and should not be viewed as recommendations. Benzinga Pro will never tell you whether to buy or sell a stock. It will only inform your trading decisions. You can find our full disclaimer located here.