Stock Ticker


Table of Contents
Price Sources

Price Sources

THIS MATERIAL NEEDS TO BE REWRITTEN FOR 1.6!!!

GnuCash provides a somewhat rudimentary automated stock quote gathering system. If a GnuCash stock account is suitably configured, and the host computer is connected to the Internet, the program gnc-prices may be used to load stock and mutual fund price quotes from various web sites directly into GnuCash.

This is what you do:

Table 1. Code List for European Markets

CodeMarket
PAParis
BCBarcelona
BEBerlin
BIBilbao
BRBrême
COCopenhagen
DDusseldorf
FFrankfurt
HHamburg
HAHanover
LLondon
MAMadrid
MCMadrid (M.C.)
MIMilan
MUMunich
OOslo
STStockholm
SGStuttgart
VAValence
FXXetra

Table 2. Pseudo-symbols that can be used for TIAA-CREF quotes

NamePseudo-symbol
StockCREFstok
Money MarketCREFmony
Equity IndexCREFequi
Inflation-Linked BondCREFinfb
Bond MarketCREFbond
TIAA Real EstateTIAAreal
Social ChoiceCREFsoci
Teachers PA Stock IndexTIAAsndx
Global EquitiesCREFglob
Teachers PA Select StockTIAAsele
GrowthCREFgrow

A sample image is shown below: Sample Diagram

To update the prices stored in a gnucash account file, run the command line command gnc-price, specifying the filename; for example: gnc-prices myaccts.xac

Running this command will print various diagnostic messages to the screen while it loads data. It will work only when the host computer is attached to the Internet. It can function in conjunction with masquerading-style firewalls and proxy servers.

The command can be run many times in one day; however, it will update the accounts at most once with the most recent trading days price data. Thus, if gnc-prices is run on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, only two price entries will be made: one containing Friday's data, and one containing Monday's data, since the Saturday and Sunday runs will only retrieve the Friday closing price.

To keep gnc-prices from updating one account, while allowing it to update another account, merely mark the data source for that account as

(none)
. You can do this from the Edit Account window.

After running gnc-prices for a few days, your accounts will begin to resemble the following: Later Ticker Listing