External Data Fields Overview
Overview
Professional and Enterprise Services clients are able to use three types of External Data fields (EDFs) in Optuma:
- data imported from an Excel or .csv file
- user-defined text or numerical data entered manually in to a Watchlist
- data imported from Bloomberg (Enterprise Services only, with a connection to Bloomberg)
Related Articles:
Working with External Data Fields
Using External Data Fields for Portfolio Management
Adding an EDF
To add an EDF to Optuma run through the following steps:
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Click on the Data menu
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Left click External Data Fields
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In the window that opens, click New and select the source you want to use from the list that appears.
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By default, a list of Bloomberg fields will display. You can type in the name of the field you are wanting to add (Sharpe Ratio - 1 Yr, for example) to shorten the list.
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Left-click on the field you want to add.
The EDF will be added to the list of available items which can be used in a number of areas throughout Optuma.
User-defined fields in a Watchlist
Data can be manually typed in to a watchlist as a user-defined field. Click the + icon in the watchlist to add the column, and then New > User Defined Field:
In the window that opens give the data field a name, and select the Field Type if required (eg Text, Number). Then in the watchlist click in the cell and enter the data. In this example, Entry Price has been added:
Bloomberg EDFs in Watchlists
Custom Columns can be added to Watchlists sourced from Bloomberg Data.
All available EDFs will be displayed in the list of available fields (under the External Data Field subheading).
EDFs in Scripting
EDFs can be used in a number of different scripts, which are available in Scans, Alerts, and Scripting tools (such as Show View, Show Bar, Show Plot, etc).
If the external data is numerical then the DATAFIELD function should be used to access EDFs in scripting. For example, to find when the MyRank EDF imported from a .csv file is equal to 5:
DATAFIELD(FEED=CSV, FIELD=MyRank)==5
If the external data is text then the MATCHFUNFIELD function should be used. Here’s an example using a user-defined text column added to a watchlist called Status. This will return a true result for all stocks with a Buy label:
MATCHFUNFIELD(FEED=UD, FIELD=Status, FIELDVALUE=Buy)
More information on how you can use Scripting can be found here - Optuma Scripting
You can also find education videos on Scripting in Optuma here - Scripting Courses
EDFs in Chart Headers
Chart Headers can be setup to display EDF fields while in Edit mode:
Setting a Bloomberg EDF as an Indicator
Some EDF values from Bloomberg contain historical data, which allow it to be used as an indicator displayed below a chart. To allow an EDF to be selected via the Tools menu, tick the Available as Indicator checkbox when adding the EDF to your list.
This data will then be available in the Tools menu, such as this example for Short Interest as % of Equity Float:
