If you use Google Finance, now might be the time to...

[DooDiligence]

I've had 3 lists over at Morningstar (a free account) for a while now & get daily emails for each.

The news blurbs attached to each email is scant & repetitive but seeing EOD price action makes it worthwhile.

 

SA provides a more significant news feed for watch lists but I don't get email alerts.

 

Keeping the 2 platform lists in sync is relatively easy since I add or subtract tickers infrequently (it is a tiny chore though...)

 

None of this may help if you're looking for automatic SS updates.

[Liberty]

Wait a sec, maybe it's not dead yet, Jim.

 

Signs of life again... Seeing pretty much 100% negative feedback on Twitter directed at Google for the new finance stuff, and hopefully people are also sending feedback using the "send feedback" link at the bottom of any search page.

 

Update: Out again at 1:06 PM...

[Junto]

I haven't used it yet but this site reached out to me on twitter. Wallmine.com

 

Looks relatively good.

[JayGatsby]

Looks like the pulled the plug on whatever is updating the prices..

 

Seems like one of these other sites would provide a similar view, but they all just seem so cluttered. Maybe I'm just stubborn.

[Liberty]

And this morning it's back... I don't know what's going on, but there's a possibility that when they turned it off yesterday they got some backlash and now they're looking at their options and turning it off in the meantime.

 

In the event that this is what's going on, if you'd like to improve the odds of Google Finance staying around as a separate site (which are probably slim, but hey, doing nothing isn't helping at all), I suggest using the "send feedback" link at the bottom of Google Search pages and let them know what you think.

 

There's ever only a very tiny fraction of users sending feedback about a specific product, so it can make a difference when you do. It's easier for en engineer to tell a boss "hey, we got huge volume of complaints about this" to then get a change of direction. Long shot, I know.

[writser]

I really hope they don't shut it down. Would be a huge pain to find a replacement for the collection of Google Sheets (with Google Finance pricing) that I've built over the past few years.

[rb]

I really hope they don't shut it down. Would be a huge pain to find a replacement for the collection of Google Sheets (with Google Finance pricing) that I've built over the past few years.

Have you thought about using excel with the IB API?

[rukawa]

I really hope they don't shut it down. Would be a huge pain to find a replacement for the collection of Google Sheets (with Google Finance pricing) that I've built over the past few years.

Have you thought about using excel with the IB API?

 

What does the IB api provide?

[rb]

I really hope they don't shut it down. Would be a huge pain to find a replacement for the collection of Google Sheets (with Google Finance pricing) that I've built over the past few years.

Have you thought about using excel with the IB API?

 

What does the IB api provide?

It does lots of things. You can even trade from excel. But you can definitely set up stock lists and then pull prices and quotes from IB. That's very easy to do.

 

If you're a coder I'm thinking that you can do many cool things above and beyond that.

[Liberty]

I really hope they don't shut it down. Would be a huge pain to find a replacement for the collection of Google Sheets (with Google Finance pricing) that I've built over the past few years.

Have you thought about using excel with the IB API?

 

What does the IB api provide?

It does lots of things. You can even trade from excel. But you can definitely set up stock lists and then pull prices and quotes from IB. That's very easy to do.

 

If you're a coder I'm thinking that you can do many cool things above and beyond that.

 

I have an IB account but I don't pay for the real-time data feeds. Is the API still available, or is it only for paying data customers? Thanks.

[gurpaul88]

yahoo is not too bad as an alternative

[rb]

I really hope they don't shut it down. Would be a huge pain to find a replacement for the collection of Google Sheets (with Google Finance pricing) that I've built over the past few years.

Have you thought about using excel with the IB API?

 

What does the IB api provide?

It does lots of things. You can even trade from excel. But you can definitely set up stock lists and then pull prices and quotes from IB. That's very easy to do.

 

If you're a coder I'm thinking that you can do many cool things above and beyond that.

 

I have an IB account but I don't pay for the real-time data feeds. Is the API still available, or is it only for paying data customers? Thanks.

The API is available for everyone it's not tied to data. It's basically meant so you can use a lot of TWS without being in TWS. Since IB started offering free delayed data, my guess without a market data subscription when you pull data you'll just pull the delayed market data.

[Liberty]

Thanks, sounds good.

 

Have you found a guide on how to use it in a Google Docs spreadsheet? I've Googled around a bit and couldn't find much...

 

I don't want to do anything too fancy with it, just get some stock prices to  auto-update in a Google Sheet to track my portfolio...

[rb]

I don't think it works with google sheets. Pretty sure it's just for excel.

[writser]

I really hope they don't shut it down. Would be a huge pain to find a replacement for the collection of Google Sheets (with Google Finance pricing) that I've built over the past few years.

Have you thought about using excel with the IB API?

 

Yeah, something like that could work. Or (make somebody) write a simple program to export prices from the IB API to CSV format and import those in Google Docs. If I use XML queries to import all prices from FT / yahoo / BB websites my sheets will become unusable I'm afraid. For now my strategy is waiting and hoping Google doesn't shut down the Google Finance Sheet functionality. There is probably no free alternative that works just as well.

[rb]

Is there any reason why you guys are so focused on google sheets?

[Liberty]

Is there any reason why you guys are so focused on google sheets?

 

Simplicity + portability + free. It meets my needs. Excel's overkill for what I'm doing.

[DooDiligence]

Is there any reason why you guys are so focused on google sheets?

 

Simplicity + portability + free. It meets my needs. Excel's overkill for what I'm doing.

 

I ported over to Numbers & Pages a long time ago & never looked back.

 

Don't know if it includes the functionality you need though.

[Liberty]

My investing journal is in Pages, and I have some stuff in Numbers, but most of my spreadsheets are in Google Docs. I guess if they stop having Google Finance live updating in Google Docs I might switch over entirely to Numbers...

[rb]

I'm apologize in advance if I upset some of you fine people with this post.

 

Why do you guys mess with around with all these apps when you can just use Excel. We're doing serious work here and that's a professional tool. When a mechanic works on an engine he doesn't use the light or pretty tool or the fancy tool. He uses the professional tool that gets the job done right. Why is this stuff any different.

 

On this thread people are freaking out because google will discontinue this functionality or the other. You don't have that with the professional tools (Excel). Nobody worries that their vlookups are gonna stop working tomorrow. So let's get serious about this stuff and use proper tools.

[writser]

I have used Excel a lot in the past but for what I'm doing now Google Sheets with Google Finance is just a better tool.

 

- Easy to collaborate with other users.  You can work on the same sheet (with live prices) at the same time.

- Sheets work (with live prices) on my pc, phone, laptop and tablet without installing any software and/or plugins.

- Built-in support for live web-scraping.

- Completely free.

 

Excel with Bloomberg / IB API can probably be used as a replacement but collaborating on documents and/or working with them on a variety of devices is not as easy AFAIK. I like the Excel Bloomberg plugin and have worked extensively with it but it costs a ridiculous amount of money if you have a small shop or are a retail investor.

 

Also a side note: I am not offended at all but I disagree with your notion that Excel is the only "professional tool" to use -

especially if you are a simple value investor. Since I started using Google Sheets I have never missed functionality from Excel. (apart from the fact that you can't build macro's in the sheet of your colleague playing porn soundtracks and threatening to erase all their work if they don't bring you coffee.)

[DooDiligence]

Holy crap. I don't think you can do that in Numbers.

 

Giggity, where's my caramel macchiatto?

[Jurgis]

Excel. (apart from the fact that you can't build macro's in the sheet of your colleague playing porn soundtracks and threatening to erase all their work if they don't bring you coffee.)

 

I need that macro.  8)

[Liberty]

I'm apologize in advance if I upset some of you fine people with this post.

 

Why do you guys mess with around with all these apps when you can just use Excel. We're doing serious work here and that's a professional tool. When a mechanic works on an engine he doesn't use the light or pretty tool or the fancy tool. He uses the professional tool that gets the job done right. Why is this stuff any different.

 

On this thread people are freaking out because google will discontinue this functionality or the other. You don't have that with the professional tools (Excel). Nobody worries that their vlookups are gonna stop working tomorrow. So let's get serious about this stuff and use proper tools.

 

If I have to I'll go to Excel, but I didn't have to so far because I don't do anything that Google Docs can't (couldn't) do. Pretty simple. Different people have different needs. So far I didn't need the bloated thing that is Excel.

[Hielko]

Also a side note: I am not offended at all but I disagree with your notion that Excel is the only "professional tool" to use -

especially if you are a simple value investor. Since I started using Google Sheets I have never missed functionality from Excel. (apart from the fact that you can't build macro's in the sheet of your colleague playing porn soundtracks and threatening to erase all their work if they don't bring you coffee.)

Are you sure you can't do that with Apps Script?

 

Google Sheets is IMO a pretty powerful tool, and in many ways more suitable for what I'm doing than Excel. I used to do everything in Excel, and now I switched to Sheets. Can't remember encountering something that I couldn't do in Sheets that I could do in Excel, but plenty of examples the other way around. It's just a better tool (for me).