Eikon and Bloomberg Terminal – A Failing Duopoly?

November 15, 2020

On my 14th, 4.51 BST, moments before London markets were set to open, users of Refinitiv’s Eikon data terminal were confronted with a serious incident. Another blunder in an increasingly competitive market, which could spell trouble for the Eikon brand.

Many users experienced trouble logging in, and disruptions continued throughout the morning. According to a spokesperson, the issue arose “toward the end of the Asia trading hours”, also stating that the foreign currency trading terminal had been affected. After a 55% purchase of the Reuters Financial & Risk business by Refinitiv late last year, Eikon’s continued state of turbulence is indicative of the overall trend hitting leading market data platforms. Both Bloomberg and Refinitiv have seen a drop in their market share as alternative platforms start to break the long held duopoly on market data.

It’s not difficult to pinpoint the cause of this shift in the market. Bloomberg and Reuters set a price point which reflected an exclusivity of market data which no longer exists. Moreso, the nature of investing has changed. Trading is no longer constrained to centralised hubs, with small funds, micro venture capital, and peer to peer lending becoming major parts of a new investment climate. More people than ever before are looking for market data to support their decision making. In light of this fact, alternative data platforms with attractive price tags, and sleek modern interfaces have become commonplace.

  • Quantamize – Quantamize is a quantitative investment research site for investors. They’re data and analytics are broad, and they’re currently branching into cryptocurrency!
  • FactSet – FactSet have been around for 40 years, giving the company the maturity and dependability of Bloomberg Terminal, but with a focus on unique, boutique, corporate solutions and a deeper relationship with clients.
  • Agrud Technologies – Agrud Technologies focuses on offering advanced structured and unstructured data retrieval, and AI analytics. This means not only market data, but also news curation, providing richer and more comprehensive insights.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the two titans of market data, as the core of their customer base is a very strong, and very wealthy one. Trading floors and markets around the world continue to use Bloomberg Terminal and Eikon primarily, and there is little sign that this will change in the near future. However, without adapting or expanding their services to the growing market outside of these hubs, they are shooting themselves in the foot, and turning their nose up at a huge untapped client base in favour of brand pedigree.