First tool we will use is a Function builder. It is used for inserting securities and other financial instrument's data from Bloomberg directly into Excel. Some functions also enable us to stream live data, meaning they will autonomously refresh as the market values are changing as time passes. It is useful because we don't have to repeatedly create new or update our old Excel spreadsheets manually every day. However, we need to be careful when formulating our functions so they work properly. It is worth noting that on our computers at CEL such functions are a bit restricted by longer refresh rates since terminal's use is purely academic and should not be used for trading on financial markets.
To use the Function builder tool first we select a cell in Excel where we want to compile our function and press Function Builder located in the tool bar.
New window appears on the right side of our screen where we can select from a collection of popular functions. Under each one there is a description and its use. For additional information we can click the help button indicated with a question mark. Each function has its' specific purpose. We can insert them in our analytical model to our liking and even construct our own template around them.
Function BDH is used for downloading historical data for companies, indices, countries etc. We select our data and filter it by the following criterion. Clicking on one of them, most used commands within a function will appear. We can also search for a specific one manually by typing it into the search bar. If we are not entirely sure how our selected data is structured, or if we are almost finished we can click the preview button which will show us a rough data structure so we can check if everything is in order.
In our case we decided to download data for IBM from 1st of January 2024 until 24th of May 2024. In columns we want the Ask, Bid and Last prices and in the last column the Volume for each day. Once we're satisfied with our choice we can populate the data in Excel spreadsheet by pressing the Insert button. Data will be inserted in the previously selected cell.
Function BDP allows us to stream financial data directly to Excel from Bloomberg. Once the value on the market is updated, it will also update in our Excel spreadsheet. In screenshots below you can see the use of such function. We selected four major american companies. We can now keep track of the changes in prices as the values in our cells will refresh upon changing on the market. The only drawback is that each cell for every company should be compiled individually. By pressing the Insert button our functions will populate selected cells and streaming will begin.
