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Stand-Alone Databases

This guide has helpful information regarding the stand-alone databases in the Parrish Library.

About Bloomberg

The Bloomberg Professional service is the most powerful and flexible platform for financial professionals who need real-time data, news and analytics to make smarter, faster, more informed business decisions.

Bloomberg Access & Reservations

The Bloomberg terminal is located in the Parrish Library and can be used on a first-come, first-served basis during regular business hours, unless a reservation has been made.

Reservations for the Bloomberg Terminal can be made online, via this link - reserve Bloomberg terminal.

Login information will be available at the Bloomberg terminal.

Bloomberg Help Resources

Guides

Investopedia's Beginner's Guide to the Bloomberg Terminal

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Use the green <HELP> key on the Bloomberg keyboard to get information about the screen you're currently viewing.
  • Hit the green <HELP> key TWICE on the Bloomberg keyboard to open a live chat with a Bloomberg specialist.

Technical Assistance

 If you need technical assistance or need to report a problem, email parrlib@purdue.edu, call 494-2920, or visit the Parrish Library iDesk.

Cheat Sheets

Cheat sheets are a listing of Bloomberg commands for a particular topic.

Links to common cheat sheets are below and are also available on the Bloomberg Terminal by entering CHEA <GO>

Usage Limits

If you're encountering data limits while using the Bloomberg Terminal please note:

You can have no more than 3500 real time fields open at the same time. If you exceed this limit you will see "NA Limit" as error message and you need to delete some securities/fields in order for the error message to disappear and to see the values. 

We also have a daily limit. The daily API limit is 500,000 hits/per day. A "hit" is defined as one request for a single security/field pairing. Therefore, if you request static data for 5 fields and 10 securities, that will translate into a total of 500 hits so try to refresh just the portion of the spreadsheet that really needs to be refreshed and avoid refreshing it all or reopening it many times a day. 

There is also a monthly limit, however only about 0.4% of the user database ever go over this limit. The limit is based on unique securities and depends on the type of data being downloaded. 

Please see the document below for information on managing data usage limits.