Historical Data Sets is not yet available to the public. Please check our Product page for updates or contact us to join our feature release mailing list.
Here you will find the FAQ for our Historical Data Sets. The links below are attached to anchors on this page for more convenient navigation. No need to load any other pages.
- What are historical data sets?
- Can I choose the time period of the data?
- Why would I want historical news data?
- May I distribute historical data?
- Are there limits on download sizes or frequencies?
- Do you guarantee coverage of all stories for the period requested?
- Why can’t I find stories for a particular publication?
- How far back do your databases extend?
- How do I apply for a student, academic, or non-profit discount?
- How do you define non-commercial use?
What are historical data sets?
We have been aggregating financial content since 2014 and have packaged them by topics, publications, languages, and other filters. You can request these data sets for various timeframes, volumes, and price points. You could receive our analytics associated with each story, too, like sentiment analysis, natural language understanding (NLU) tags, and CityFALCON score. For each additional set of analytics, the price rises.
If you’re working on NLU-based trading algorithms or need searchable news with some CityFALCON analytics, you can use historical data sets to build strategies and backtest.
Can I choose the time period of the data?
Yes, you can choose which timeframes are packaged into the files sent to you.
Why would I want historical news data?
There are multiple use cases for historical data. The most common is probably to build strategies for trading and investment then backtesting those strategies. You can use numeric-centric algorithms on our analytics, or you might use NLU-based algorithms on texts.
Another reason to purchase historical data is research into how events shape stock markets or to investigate how quickly news about different events spreads and through what channels, or how sentiment changes over time as more information becomes available.
You probably have your own reasons, too.
May I distribute historical data?
No, we generally do not allow redistribution of the content we provide to you. By default, you are only allowed to show the content on your website or apps to your users or clients. You can not redistribute via API or similar methods.
Please see our Terms of Service for the CityFALCON API for more clarity and legal requirements.
Are there limits on download sizes?
Unlike our API, which is limited to 10,000 stories per call for our premium plans, Historical Data Sets can contain hundreds of thousands of stories per request. The more you download, the more it will cost, but we do not limit the number of stories downloadable.
Since Historical Data Sets are separate from our other products, and you can choose the covered time period, you are essentially free to download as much as you want and can afford. The content will be packaged into a CSV file and you will receive a link to download it.
Do you guarantee coverage of all stories for the period requested?
The world is chaotic and complex, and therefore we cannot guarantee every story from every publication for all times. Moreover, we have built our database over time and we’re still building it. Hence not all currently-available publications reach back to our earliest days and some will be missing content from those earlier days.
Why can’t I find stories for a particular publication?
Our sources number over 2000 publications, which we have curated specifically for financial and business content. If you cannot find a publication you want, let us know with a brief explanation. We will review the request, and, if the publication meets our standards for content and credibility, we will add it.
However, some publications ask to not be included in our API service, and we respect their wishes.
How far back do your databases extend?
Our highest-tier packages allow you to search as far back as 2014.
How do I apply for a student, academic, or non-profit discount?
We periodically offer discounts to those in academia and non-profit organisations. If you are part of such an educational or non-profit organisation, please contact us for more information.
We will require some proof of your or your organisation’s credentials (but you can contact us preliminarily before gathering all the credentials).
How do you define non-commercial use?
This is a complex topic. In essence, if you’re making money by selling our data or derivatives of our data, or using our data for business improvements or attracting customers, we consider those activities to be commercial use. Because there are many facets to this answer, we’ve written a full article to answer it.