Entering Bloomberg Symbols - Drag and Drop Excel files

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Drag and Drop Bloomberg Symbols

Bloomberg symbols contained in an Excel file can be dragged and dropped directly into Optuma by highlighting the codes and grabbing the edge of the selected area (the cursor changes to four arrows).

Security Selection Window

To add the codes to the Security Selection window, drag them to the Bloomberg folder.

It’s also possible to create a custom exchange (e.g. My Funds) in which to drag the codes.

Note: The Data Provider must be set to Bloomberg.

Optuma Tip

If you have too many codes to drag and drop you may wish to import them directly from a CSV file.

Watchlists and Watchtiles

It’s also possible to create a Watchlist or Watchtiles directly from your spreadsheet. Open a new Watchlist or Watchtile page from the New menu and drag the selected codes as per above.

Manually Searching the Bloomberg Database

If you are not sure of the code you want to open click on the ‘Bloomberg’ link in the Security Selection window to open the search facility. Enter the search criteria and Optuma will search the Bloomberg database for matches. Click on the security type (Equity, Index, etc) to filter the results, and sort the columns by clicking the headings. When the appropriate security has been found, double-click to open the chart and add the code to your database.

We have also made it easier to import Bloomberg portfolios and symbol lists, and also to drag and drop codes into Optuma.

Open Bloomberg Portfolios and Symbol Lists

With the improved Bloomberg Symbology interface, it is easy to open Bloomberg portfolios and symbol lists from a CSV file, for more information, please click here.

Populating a Custom Data Folder from a CSV File

If you have a list that contains hundreds of symbols then the drag and drop option as explained earlier may not be the best way to get them into Optuma.

Instead, you can import them from a CSV file directly into a custom data folder.

Formatting the CSV data

• The comma-separated file should contain at least two fields: the Bloomberg symbol (eg MFLDX US Equity) and whatever the code is to be used in Optuma (eg MFLDX). Note that the two codes can be the same.

• Other fields can include the instrument’s name, currency, and decimal places.

• If created in Excel, save in .csv format and note the location.

Create the Custom Folder

• To create the custom data folder press F3 top open the Security Selection window.
• Right-click on the blank area on the bottom left-hand side of the window.
• Select Add Custom Exchange.
• Name the exchange folder and ensure the Data Provider is set to Bloomberg.

Importing the CSV data

• Right-click on your custom folder and select Import Codes from CSV.

• From the pop-up window select the location of the CSV file and choose the currency, decimals, and the columns in the Field Order section:

Note: Columns that are not required can be ignored from the import by entering ‘Skip’ - Click Import when the field order matches that of the ‘Sample Row’ of the CSV file.

• When complete, the imported codes will be available in the custom folder for opening a chart, sector map, watchlist, or RRG chart.

Automatically Re-scanning the CSV file

If the CSV file is updated automatically and saved in the same location then once the file is imported Optuma is able to re-scan the file upon start up, thus ensuring that any changes will be automatically reflected in the data without having to manually re-import it.

Simply right-click on the custom folder in the Security Selection window and select the Re-scan on Startup option.