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Why are my stocks down? (how to find out without a Bloomberg terminal)
Investing in today’s markets presents a stream of question marks. Whether you place a good trade, or a bad one, it is hard to determine whether luck or skill played a part - whether any element of your strategy is reproducible, or if you just lucked out.
If you feel a little confused when you both win and lose, this article is for you.
We break down the value of real-time data sources for traders who both react and reflect.
Question marks are particularly common as a retail investor when data is less available, sorted for quality, timestamped, and structured. We can't all fork out $20,000 plus per year for a Bloomberg terminal.
Picture this: coffee in hand, checking the morning news on your watchlist and you see something positive about one of your shortlisted stocks.
You place a trade and a few hours later you're up 5% - glad that you acted because it would be have been horrible to miss out.
"Great!" you think...but then a few hours later you see a news article that came out before the one that had pushed you to place your trade.
Now you wonder whether your upside was really tied to your intuition and skill. Was it a random walk in the markets? Were you just lucky? Because you realise that if you had seen this news at the time, you wouldn't have traded.
In these circumstances, we might take the win and even tell ourselves we knew what we were doing all along.
However, we don't always win and we often reflect more on our losses. Pick any top stock, and you will see flurries of millions of searches asking why it is down over many years of earnings reports, scandals, supply chain issues, and the like.
It is common for traders to seek closure on a trade, whether novice or experienced. A reflective cycle often contributes to the rhythm of institutional traders' weeks - building watchlists, hypotheses, acting on them when the time seems right, and reflecting on the outcome and the assumptions behind the trade. We think reflection makes for a great activity but we also know that traders who win need to act fast.
For many investors, particularly retail traders, keeping up can feel overwhelming. Traditional methods of constantly refreshing websites, scrolling through social media, or tracking multiple news feeds are overwhelming and good sources are difficult to filter from bad sources. Time, as anyone who’s watched a stock swing mid-morning knows, is precious.
That’s why real-time data matters. It’s not just about racing against the clock—it’s about having the right information at the right moment.
Knowing about a market-moving news item as it happens gives you confidence in your decisions, or a foundation to explore from. It gives an idea and a set of assumptions you can test, and more time to do so before the opportunity disappears. You can evaluate, plan, and act—not frantically chase trends after they’ve already happened.
Of course, this is not a new problem, and there are always Bloomberg terminals and financial data providers, which have been the gold standard for decades.
They’re fast, reliable, and comprehensive, but they come with a steep learning curve and a high price tag(or do not take into account more sources than just financial). They capture what is happening but also do not help to infer the meaning behind events. Not everyone needs—or can afford—a terminal to aid us in making thoughtful investment decisions. We certainly don't have sentiment analysis ands other sophisticated tools to hand, and we could all do with a bit more help understanding what today's event really means for our watchlists and our portfolios - especially when we are sorting through so many so quickly.
Real-Time Data in Trading
Why is Real-Time Data Important?
The real challenge is getting the data we need in a timeframe that stop us from missing out on a great trade, while still doing adequate diligence. It is a delicate balance between placing a trade early enough, whether in advance, or in a response to an event - and getting the information necessary to make an informed decision where a good portion of the risk is calculated.
The fear of missing out can often make us jump the gun but waiting too long risks seeing potential 'alpha' we observe, decay.
Real-time web-wide data is a solution to this problem. Access to real-time data enables traders to make informed decisions grounded in reality and provide the context on why a ticker is up or down. Moreso, coverage of what people think and know about an event is critical, since the price is just an amalgamation of other traders (and bots) view of events, and what they think that company news, report, or event means.
Case Study - New York Stock Exchange
The NYSE has leveraged real-time market data to power smarter trading decisions, demonstrating the critical role of timely information in trading strategies.
Imagine a trader monitoring a tech stock. An earnings report unexpectedly beats expectations. With traditional sources, they might notice the news 10–15 minutes later—by which time the stock may have already moved. With real-time search, they don’t just see the news sooner—they gain context faster.
Whether they choose to act immediately or not, they can understand why a trade worked out the way it did, or why the market is moving, instead of piecing it together hours later.
In this way, real-time data offers more time to react, and better opportunities to reflect.
Key Concepts:
- News Impact: Breaking reports can move prices instantly.
- Volatility Tracking: Real-time monitoring helps spot sudden swings.
- Market Metrics: Price trends, sector momentum, and sentiment indicators all feed into better trading decisions.
How does Flux help?
Flux Search consolidates this kind of data — news headlines, earnings posts, regulatory updates—into a single unified API, giving both casual investors and professional traders a clear view of the market as it happens. Why an API? So we can build all sorts of lean and mean trading tools on top and we include open source templates and cookbooks to help with putting these into practice. We hope it helps to replace panic with clarity, and a great entry for those seeking to deploy data-driven trading strategies.
Key Takeaway:
Whether you’re trading intra-day, holding for weeks, or building a long-term portfolio, access to reliable, up-to-the-minute information can be a practical advantage, but also a valuable component of your reflective cycle - giving a broader and fresher view of what is moving the markets, and why you trade did well, or didn't. It reduces uncertainty, improves decision-making and offers greater control over your trading journey.
Looking for a constant in the change?
Flux Search helps you see what’s important: relevant news, financial data, and insights from multiple sources, all in one place, and with much greater accessibility than high ticket data sources.
If we made you think, nod in agreement, or curse your screen - we want to hear.
♾️ Let's chat!