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DataTools Service Information

What's New?

Service Information


Exchange Holidays: May 20, 2013


Database Upgrade: April 19, 2013

Continuous Commodity Index Futures de-listed: April 15, 2013

Broad Wool de-listed: March 27, 2013

Change to CRB Index: October 05, 2012

Available Database Upgrades 

Fixing Connection Problems 

DataTools & Windows Operating Systems 

De-Listed Contracts 

Problems with Continuous Contracts 




Exchange Holidays: May 20, 2013

Canada (Victoria/Patriots' Day)
Ice Futures Canada - closed
Montreal Exchange - closed

Switzerland - Closed for Whitmonday




Database Upgrade: April 19, 2013

We are now providing updates for the following futures market:

Contract Code Exchange
Hang Seng D (day-only session) HS1 HKFE

Please note -
  • the newly added symbols won't update for you unless you obtain the historical data first.

  • the continuous contracts for these markets won't exist unless you create them!

  • to incorporate these new markets, please perform a "Database Upgrade".

The full list of available database upgrades and instructions on how to add these markets can be found here > Available Database Upgrades




Continuous Commodity Index Futures de-listed: April 15, 2013

Following on from the announcement on September 25, 2012, the April Continuous Commodity Index Futures contract has now expired and the market has been completely delisted by The ICE.
To remove "Continuous Commodity Idx" from your Futures database, please follow the instructions shown here > De-Listed Contracts

The original September 25, 2012 notice read:
ICE Futures US has announced that effective immediately the Exchange will cease listing new expiration months for the CCI Index Futures contract. The November 2012, January, February and April 2013 contracts (which have outstanding open interest) will continue to be listed until they expire or no longer have any open interest.
Upon delisting, ICE Futures US will also stop providing quotes for the CCI Cash Index.




Broad Wool de-listed: March 27, 2013

The ASX has announced that they have delisted Broad Wool Futures effective at the close of trading, Wednesday March 27, 2013.

To remove "Broad Wool C" from your Futures database, please follow the instructions shown here > De-Listed Contracts




Change to CRB Index: October 05, 2012

The CRB Index ($CR) was discontinued by The ICE exchange on the 28th of September 2012.
Going forward the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB cash index will be provided on a "close-only" basis.




Available Database Upgrades

The following markets are currently available as database upgrades in DataTools:

Market Code Added
Hang Seng D (day-only session) HS1 20130419


Please note -
  • the newly added symbols won't update for you unless you obtain the historical data first.

  • the continuous contracts for these markets won't exist unless you create them!

  • to incorporate these new markets, please make sure that all charting programs are closed and perform a "Database Upgrade".

To perform a Database Upgrade -

  1. Make sure you are connected to the internet.

  2. Close all charting programs.

  3. Open DataTools and click on Program Utilities and then on Database Upgrade.

  4. Highlight any market histories you wish to incorporate and then click "Download".

  5. If you can't see any markets to download, run a normal Update first.

To create Continuous Contracts -

  1. Open the Continuous Contracts module in DataTools (Tools/Continuous Contracts)

  2. Highlight the required market(s) in the market list and click "Create Contracts".




Fixing Connection Problems

Occasionally DataTools may have trouble connecting to one of our data servers.

If you experience any issues where DataTools cannot connect or it is not updating past a certain date, you can try changing the server that DataTools connects to.

You can do this on the Update Window in DataTools, by changing the "Server Selection" to try each of the 4 servers in turn.



DataTools & Windows Operating Systems

Microsoft has ended support for the following operating systems and service packs:
Operating System Date Website
Windows 98 July 11 2006 Source
Windows ME July 11 2006 Source
Windows 2000 July 13 2010 Source
Windows XP SP2 July 13 2010 Source
Windows Vista SP1 July 12 2011 Source

As such, we are advising potential clients that they need to have Windows XP SP3 or Vista SP2 (or above) in order to run our updating products. Whilst DataTools should continue to function under W98/ME/2k and XP SP1&2, we can no longer guarantee that it will work seamlessly. In particular, problems may arise when we issue an automatic upgrade to a program component. If you are using an earlier version of windows and you find that an upgrade causes the program to fail, you can usually work around the problem simply by doing a program re-install. Program installers are always available for this purpose from the Downloads area of our website.



Contracts De-listed

To remove a market from the database, use Windows to delete the relevant market sub-folder from the ...\Futures\Contracts\ folder (or cut-and-paste it to an archive) If you're not sure where your "Futures" folder is located, you can read the location from the DataTools Configuration page, where the entry for "Data Folder" shows the path to its top level. (Program Utilities / Configuration / General). The default installation path is c:\Trading Data\Futures\.

The following markets have been de-listed since the DataTools service commenced:

Exchange Market Name
ASX All Ords SPI
ASX Australian Dollar (SFE)
ASX Barley (SFE)
ASX Broad Wool
ASX Canola (SFE)
ASX Cattle (SFE)
ASX Sorghum (SFE)
ASX Wheat (SFE)
CME Group E-mini Russell 2000
CME Group Deutschemark
CME Group Pork Bellies (Frozen)
CME Group Treasury Bills
CME Group Unleaded Gas
Eurex Nemax 50
ICE Futures Canada Western Barley
ICE Futures US Cocoa
ICE Futures US Coffee
ICE Futures US Continuous Commodity Index
ICE Futures US Cotton
ICE Futures US Orange Juice
ICE Futures US Sugar #11
ICE Futures US US Dollar Index
MGEX Wheat (MGEX)
NYSE Liffe Euro-Lira
NYSE Liffe Euro-Mark
NYSE Liffe Italian Govt. Bond
NYSE Liffe Coffee (LIFFE)



Problems with Continuous Contracts

General Advice

If any problem is noticed with a continuous contract, the first thing to try is to re-build the contract from scratch. Continuous contracts are made from the data in your underlying futures database. As long as this data is sound, you can always quickly re-create a continuous contract. The Continuous Contracts module can be accessed from the chain-link icon, or from under the Tools item on the DataTools menu line. See below for a complete description of the process.

Re-creating Continuous Contracts

  1. Open DataTools and select "Tools" from the menu line and then "Continuous Contracts".

  2. Highlight the market in question and click "Edit Roll Settings".

  3. Make sure that the "End Year" setting shows some year beyond the current year (towards the bottom of the Annual Template window)

  4. Click "Save & Exit"

  5. With the market in question still highlighted, click "Create Contracts".