US STOCKS HISTORICAL DATA

The data is provided in the 7-field "MetaStock" format, where the fields are Date, Open, High, Low, Close, Volume, Open Interest.

Please Note!

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Version 12 of the MetaStock™ charting program for end-of-day data was released in October 2012. This version can only read data from Reuters DataLink™. Earlier versions are able to read data supplied by Premium Data.

If you are interested in purchasing historical data as a stand-alone item, and require it in ASCII/CSV format, you can convert it from the "MetaStock" format with our specialised Premium Data Converter program, which allows you to precisely define output parameters. The Converter program is available for Download if you purchase an historical data package or register for a free trial of our US Stocks update service.

Database Licence

The US Stocks historical database is licensed for personal use only and is not allowed to be redistributed to any other party. If you need to use the database for commercial or redistribution purposes, please contact us with your requirements.

Free "Trial" History

The US Stocks "trial" history is provided for free with a trial of our US Stocks update service and is not available for purchase. It provides full histories for equity symbols beginning with "A" but only the last 6 months of history for all other symbols.

History for "currently listed"

This history is available in two packages -

• History going back to 1985
• History going back to 1950 (approx. disk space required = 900 mb)

For a description of the security types contained, and the layout of the folder structure, please see Layout & Security Types.

US Indices

Historical data for around 1,000 indices

• Dow Jones Industrial Average - from inception - May 26 1896
• S&P 500 - from 1928
• NYSE Composite - from 1966
• NASDAQ Composite - from 1971

History for World Indices is also included.

Examples of currently-listed securities that have history back to 1950.

Show Examples

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NYSE: MMM - 3M Co.
NYSE: BA - Boeing Co.
NYSE: CAT - Caterpillar Inc.
NYSE: CVX - Chevron
NYSE: KO - Coca Cola Co.
NYSE: DD - Dupont
NYSE: XOM - Exxon Mobile Corp.
NYSE: GE - General Electric Co.
NYSE: IBM - International Business Machines
NYSE: JNJ - Johnson & Johnson
NYSE: MRK - Merck & Co.
NYSE: PFE - Pfizer Inc.
NYSE: PG - Procter & Gamble Co.
NYSE: UTX - United Technologies

History for "delisted"

The history for Delisted Securities is also available in two packages -

• History going back to 1985
• History going back to 1950 (approx. disk space required = 1100 Mb)

Definition of "Delisted"

Delisted is synonymous with "untradeable" - i.e. a delisted security is one that can no longer be traded at all, even over-the-counter. Our Delisted database includes securities that were delisted from major exchanges from 1950 to 2001. However, with the advent of the OTC-BB and OTC Markets/Pink Sheets quotation services, the distinction between being delisted and relegated to over-the-counter trading became blurred. A security can be removed from a major exchange, spend some time in over-the-counter trading and then make its way back to a major exchange.

Our coverage of OTC securities began in 2002. Therefore, from 2002 onwards, securities that were removed from a major exchange but continued to be quoted as OTC securities are not considered to be delisted. Securities that ceased to be quoted entirely are included in the database from 2002 onwards under the last-known ticker, which may be an OTC ticker (e.g. Enron last traded over-the-counter as ENRNQ).

What are OTC securities?

What are OTC securities?

Over-the-counter (OTC) securities are public securities that are not listed on a major exchange and therefore are not subject to the strict listing requirements of those exchanges. Off-exchange trading in these securities takes place via market makers who work through quotation systems such as OTC Markets/Pink Sheets or the OTC-BB (Over The Counter Bulletin Board). OTC securities have either limited or no reporting requirements.

Why bother about OTC securities?

Many securities, after being removed from a major exchange, trade OTC for a while before eventually relisting. Coverage of OTC ensures that the full trading history of such securities can be provided.

Case Studies

Delisted:FWLT-201412
Foster Wheeler
Originally formed in 1927 by the merger of a power company owned by the Foster family and the "Wheeler Condenser and Engineering Company", it was listed on the NYSE under the symbol FW. In November 2003, the stock was removed from the NYSE due to its inability to meet requirements regarding stockholder's equity. It then traded on the OTC-BB under the symbol FWHLF. In June 2005, it was able to relist on a major exchange and began trading as NASDAQ:FWLT. In December 2014, Amec agreed to buy Foster Wheeler for $16 in cash and 0.9 of a share of Amec. Our history includes price data from all of these phases inside the symbol FWLT-201412.

NYSE:NAV
Navistar
Originally listed in 1909 as "International Harvester Company" (NYSE:HR), it subsequently changed its name to "Navistar" (NYSE:NAV). In February 2007, the stock was removed from the NYSE due to accounting statement inaccuracies and issues with its auditors. It traded as NAVZ on the OTCBB/Pink Sheets until it succeeded in relisting on the NYSE (NYSE:NAV) in July 2008 and is still listed today. Our history includes price data from all of these phases. Navistar was a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from August 1925 to May 1991.

Securities in "Delisted"

Included: Common stocks, ADRs, ETFs, ETNs, CEFs, MLPs, Royalty Trusts.

Excluded: Preferred stocks, Debt securities, Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, Special Investment Products, Corporate units, Warrants, Rights.

Note: A security is only included in Delisted if it traded on a major exchange at some point in its history.

Price

The price of any particular package, or combination of packages, can be calculated on our interactive pricing page.

Database Methodology (corporate actions and dividends)

The methodology we use is the same as that used by index providers (such as Standard & Poors) for benchmark indexes such as the S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, Russell 2000 etc. These indexes are not adjusted for ordinary dividends. By using the same methodology as the index providers, we keep our stocks data "in synch" with the indexes.

Securities are fully adjusted for all capital-related corporate actions - splits, reverse splits, capital gains, capital returns, stock dividends (bonus issues), special dividends and spin-offs & demergers. That is, the open, high, low, close and volume are adjusted for all dates prior to the ex-date of the relevant corporate action so as to remove the dilutive effect of the action and show a consistent record. The original unadjusted closing price for each day is provided in the "Open Interest" field which is otherwise redundant for stocks. The data is not adjusted for ordinary cash dividends.

Please note: Many charting programs expect "Open Interest" to be an integer (whole number) and therefore don't show decimal detail for the unadjusted closes that are provided in this field.

Database Completeness and Known Issues

No database covering such an enormous field as "US Stocks" can claim to be complete or error-free.

Ours has been built from dozens of sources and user contributions and with extensive reference made to newspaper archives to help decipher sequences of events that occurred in companies that have since disappeared. In compiling the database, we have deliberately excluded securities with a limited trading history (< 30 days) and those for which the data appeared to be wildly erratic or patchy. OTC coverage before 2002 is limited to companies that were previously exchange-listed and for which OTC data could be sourced. NASDAQ prices have limitations in some cases due to the fact that they were not fully reported by the exchange before June 1992. Volume for a number of US Indices is patchy or inconsistent (we only began recording the volume ourselves more recently). "Bad ticks" are corrected where an inference can made that a tick was recorded incorrectly due to a typographical error and is not due to an outlying trade that was actually executed.

More Information: NASDAQ in the early 1980s

Hide: NASDAQ in the early 1980s

The NASDAQ, whilst always being an all-electronic exchange, only started to report daily prices of actual trades on the National Market System (NMS) in November 1982. Before daily reporting came into effect, the only price available was the midpoint between a closing bid and ask - no other information was available (such as open, high, low and volume).

In November 1982, around 400 securities were reported on the National Market System. By September 1984, there were over 1000. In November 1984, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved changes to the eligibility criteria for NASDAQ stocks. Previously, stocks needed to have a trading volume of at least 100,000 shares per month. As a result of this decision, which was implemented in January 1985, the number of eligible securities increased dramatically.

FAQs - General

Does the free "trial" history contain any delisted securities?

No.

Do you have lists of historical index constituents for sale?

No.

The problem with "raw" lists of historical index constituents is that subsequent name/symbol changes and other corporate actions have to be investigated and taken into account for the lists to be of any use. For instance, the old "General Motors" (GM) stock was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2009 and finally delisted in 2011, when its last known name/symbol was "Motors Liquidation Company" (MTLQQ). The symbol "MTLQQ" may not appear in any record of Dow historical index constituents and the symbol "GM" may not appear in any database of delisted securities. The name/symbol "General Motors" (GM) should appear in a database of currently-listed securities, but not as the stock that was in the Dow prior to 2009.

How do I get the data after I have bought it?

The history installer will be available to you from the Downloads area of our website for a period of 3 weeks after purchase.

I am a subscriber to your US Stocks update service and have purchased a history. Can I get a "fresh" version of this history from you at any time?

Yes. History installers are always available to current subscribers to updates who have bought a history at some stage. If you ever have a problem with file corruption, or need to set up a new machine, you can download/install a fresh history. The installers for "currently listed" are brought up to date and loaded into our Downloads area every Sunday. Those for "delisted" are refreshed every quarter.

Does the price data represent Normal Trading Hours or does it include pre and post market trading?

The price data only incorporates trades executed during Normal Trading Hours.

Does the price data represent trades only on the primary listed exchange or across all exchanges?

Across all exchanges with some exceptions, as defined by the Consolidated Tape Association. Many stocks trade more combined volume on exchanges other than their listed exchange. The open, high, low and close price data incorporates all trades executed on any exchange or ECN as reported to the Consolidated Tape that has sale codes designated by the Consolidated Tape Association as "last sale eligible". Volume data incorporates all trades that the Consolidated Tape Association deemed eligible to update Volume.

FAQs - Delisted Securities

What are some examples of delisted securities?

OTC:ENRNQ
Enron Corp originally formed in 1931 as the "Northern Natural Gas Company" (NYSE:NNG). In 1979 it reorganised and changed its name to "InterNorth" (NYSE:INI) . After the takeover of the "Houston Natural Gas" company in 1985, it changed its name to Enron (NYSE:ENE). In January 2002, the NYSE removed Enron from the exchange and it became an OTC security trading as ENRNQ. It was finally delisted in November 2004.

More Information: AT&T - a case history

Hide: AT&T - a case history

"American Telephone and Telegraph" was incorporated in 1875 and listed on the Boston Stock Exchange under the symbol 'T' in 1888. In 1901 it was listed on the NYSE under the symbol 'ATT' and in 1930 the symbol changed to 'T'. In the 1970s, the US Government challenged the monopoly rights of AT&T and in 1983 the company was split into seven independent Regional Bell Operating Companies otherwise known as "Baby Bells". These were - "Bell Atlantic", "Southwestern Bell", "Pacific Telesis", "Ameritech", "BellSouth", "NYNEX" and "USWest", plus the original AT&T. AT&T shareholders received 1 share in each of the seven Baby Bells for every 10 shares of AT&T stock they held at the time of the split. AT&T also had an investment in two other companies, "Cincinnati Bell" and "Southern New England Telephone" (SNET), and these became fully independent as well.

Further spin-offs have occurred since including "Lucent" in 1996, "AT&T Wireless Corp" in 2001, "Liberty Media" in 2001 and "AT&T Broadband" in 2002. In 2005, one of the original Baby Bells, "SBC Communications" (at that time trading as NYSE:SBC) took over AT&T for $16 billion. As a result of the takeover, NYSE:T was delisted. SBC decided to re-brand itself as AT&T and change its trading symbol from NYSE:SBC to NYSE:T. Therefore, the delisted code T-200511 represents the original company (and has trading history from 1950 to 2005). The currently listed NYSE:T represents the SBC history.

Further history on each of the Baby Bells and spin-offs is as follows:

  »  Southwestern Bell - took over Pacific Telesis in 1998, Southern New England Telecommunications in 1998 and Ameritech in 1999. In 2002, it rebranded itself as SBC. In 2001, SBC and BellSouth formed a cellphone joint venture known as Cingular Wireless. SBC owned 60% of Cingular and BellSouth 40%. Now listed as NYSE:T.
  »  Southern New England Telephone Company (delisted code: SNG-199810) - known as SNET, was taken over by SBC in 1998.
  »  Pacific Telesis (delisted code: PAC-199703) - also known as PacBell, this company was merged into SBC in 1997.
  »  Ameritech (delisted code: AIT-199910) - split into five "Baby Bells" operating units (Michigan Bell, Indiana Bell, Illinois Bell, Ohio Bell and Wisconsin Bell) then all five merged back into Ameritech in 1993, which was taken over by SBC in 1999.
  »  Bell Atlantic (NYSE:VZ) - took over GTE corporation in 2000 and changed its name to Verizon.
  »  BellSouth (delisted code: BLS-200612) - spun off Cingular in 2001 then was taken over by the new AT&T in 2006.
  »  NYNEX (delisted code: NYN-199708) - taken over by Bell Atlantic in 1997.
  »  US West (delisted code: UMG-199806) - split into three "Baby Bells" (Northwestern Bell, Pacific Northwestern Bell, Mountain Bell), then all three merged back into US West Newvector Group in 1991 which was subsequently taken over by QWest in 1998.
  »  AT&T Wireless (delisted code: AWE-200410) - after being spun off by AT&T in 2001, AT&T Wireless was taken over by Cingular in 2004.
  »  Cingular - formed in a joint venture between SBC and Bellsouth in 2001, Cingular was taken over by the new AT&T in 2006. Cingular was never listed on a stock exchange.
  »  NCR Corp (delisted code: NCR-199109) - was taken over in 1991 by the old AT&T.
  »  Lucent (delisted code: LU-200611) - was taken over in 2006 by Alcatel.
  »  AT&T Broadband - was sold to Comcast in 1992. AT&T Broadband was never listed on a stock exchange.
  »  Liberty Media (delisted code: L-200605) - in 2006, Liberty Media split into four tracking stocks: two stocks for Liberty Interactive NASDAQ:LINTA, NASDAQ:LINTB, and two stocks for Liberty Capital: NASDAQ:LCAPA, NASDAQ:LCAPB.
  »  Cincinnati Bell (NYSE:CBB) - still listed (as of 2011).

What symbol convention do you use for delisted securities?

Stock symbols are recycled by exchanges. In order to avoid confusion with symbol overlap, a unique symbol is assigned to each delisted security to represent the last known symbol under which the security traded plus the year and month of delisting. For example - Enron last traded as ENRNQ in November 2004, so its delisted symbol is ENRNQ-200411.

More Information: Examples of symbol recycling

Hide: Examples of symbol recycling

The symbols AB, CDS, CSA, ENT and SEM have been used 6 times as of 2010. The symbol AB has represented -

Ambac Industries Inc Common Share (delisted July 1978)
ABA Industries Inc Common Share (delisted January 1983)
ABI American Businessphones Common Share (delisted October 1988)
Alex Brown Inc Common Share (delisted August 1997)
Cannon Express Inc Common Share (delisted October 2003)
AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. Unit (currently listed)

Do you show which exchange(s) a delisted security was originally listed on?

No - this information is not available. The only information we provide on a delisted security is its last known company name, symbol and month/year of delisting.

Do you have sector classifications for delisted securities?

No. The current leading classification systems (GICS and ICB) were only developed after most of the securities in the database were delisted. The ICB system was introduced in 2006.

Why do I see duplicate company names in the delisted and listed stocks?

This typically occurs as a result of a company undergoing a complex restructuring.

More Information

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Aviall Inc listed on the NYSE in October 1984. Ryder System, Inc acquired all the outstanding shares in Availl in November 1985 and Aviall was delisted (delisted symbol = AVI-198511). In 1993, Ryder decided to spin off Aviall as a listed company and it was listed on the NYSE under the symbol AVL. In September 2006, Boeing acquired Aviall and Aviall was delisted (delisted code: AVL-200609). Therefore there are two instances of the name Aviall Inc. in the delisted database. Each one represents a different party of Aviall's history but the two securities are unrelated from a price perspective.

Duplicate names can be the result of a company emerging from bankruptcy, where the existing shares are cancelled and the creditors and bondholders become the owners of new shares.

Another reason that there may be duplicated company names is as a result of complex mergers. For example, where two companies of approximately equal size merge and they elect to both delist in lieu of a completely new entity - which sometimes has the name, and sometimes the symbol, of one of the pre-existing entities. This happened with Berlitz International Inc (NYSE:BTZ-199302) when it merged with Fututake Publishing Company in early 1993. The "new" company was also called Berlitz and traded on the NYSE under the same symbol (BTZ) until its delisting in 2001 (NYSE:BTZ-200105) due to a takeover.

What security types are shown in your delisted securities?

Common shares in operating companies (including ADRs) and REITs.

Why do I see some stocks with unbelievably high historical prices?

Penny stocks can execute massive reverse splits (consolidations). In 2003, Pacific Aerospace & Electronics Inc. (PARO-200404) executed a reverse split of 1 for 200. This was followed up by another reverse split of 1 for 11,000 in 2004. The cumulative effect was a dilution of 1 for 2,200,000.