“Bond Trader” Calculator

[jyl]

On a prior thread, someone (trader220?) mentioned the old desktop “bond calculators”. That piqued my interest. I never used one of those, and don’t have much (any) need for one now, but I like specialized, vintage, and obscure things. So I bought one.



Yes, it does work (per seller and other pics). That is good, because the first one I bought did not work. So now I have a “parts machine” to scavenge for my “main machine” and I have no actual use for either one . . . Well, there are more stupid things one can do. I’ll be able to amuse myself calculating yields that I can simply read on a computer screen. Hmm, maybe I should get a couple slide rules.

Seriously, it is interesting to see/be reminded of what technology was like 30 years ago. When this thing was new, it was expensive, cellphones looked like briefcases, hardly anyone had a laptop and most didn’t have desktop PCs, and most people were not on the internet.

[Paul T]

That’s pretty cool. Can’t imagine having that instead of a Bloomberg terminal!

[KFC911]

Abacuses or Albaci?

[jyl]

I had a Bloomberg Terminal for some years. They are really hard to use. The interface is a weird kludge of command line and graphical. There is no easy way to learn what the codes are, no searchable reference. They want to send a rep to come train you in everything, which is a waste of your time and just gives them a chance to sell you a new service, admittedly by a usually cute and sometimes hot rep. I got really frustrated and switched to a different vendor, Factset.

Bloomberg has the most data, by far, anything you want to know they have - you want to know how many oil tankers are sailing, or soybean tonnage in China. there is a code for it. They also have a very powerful messaging tool that all the big traders and analysts are on. But I never really needed that data or messaging. If I wanted to know tanker counts or soybean tonnage, I just called any of the sellside analysts trying to get our commission flow and said “send me the data - no, analyze it for me and put it is a nice chart, and do that every month”. Now i’m the smallest of fry and don’t have that access, so a BBG terminal and everything that comes with it would be nice. They’re expensive though. Not sure of current prices but when I was using, it was like $25K a year per user. No doubt more now? But having a BBG terminal on your desk does make you look serious :-)

It will be interesting to play with the calculator. I have to think it’s just a curio now. Realistically if you’re gonna buy a bond today you want to know a lot more than yield. You want to know convexity, yield to call and to worst, credit rating, covenants, CDS price, volume, spreads, revenue and margin trends, ownership, ETF exposure, on and on. All that is on the screen with a few clicks, and of course if you’re not a minnow like present day me (sob) you can simply call the trader and have him run down the info.

Anyway I don’t even really do much individual bond stuff. It’s not my real interest, I like the math and stuff but it’s not a great use of my time. It may start to be, though, because I don’t trust bond ETFs or funds as much anymore.

[jyl]

F—k a duck - calculator died after working for a few days.

I think these 40 year old calculators are just on their last legs.

So, I had an idea. Tell me if you know about this stuff and if my idea sounds doable.

1. Get a Raspberry Pi “Compute” module and board. This has lots and lots of IO pins.

2. Wire pins to keys and switches. Figure out how to drive the display.

3. Write code to do the bond calculations.

4. Add any enhancements that seem fun or interesting. Like maybe extend calcs to convertibles, callable/putable, inflation protected, etc.

I can handle the math. Can probably figure out the code. Know nothing about how to interface with the display.

[MBAtarga]

ah, Microsoft has this product called Excel that you can use to do the above ...

[jyl]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

ah, Microsoft has this product called Excel that you can use to do the above ...

Is there no romance in your soul, man?

[MBAtarga]

Originally Posted by jyl

Is there no romance in your soul, man?

Hey, I've got an HP-41CV that I've had stored for the last 30 years or so. I bought it to get through my EE degree at GT and the flex circuit board connection to the battery compartment got corroded a few years after graduation. There was a guy that made/sold replacement flex circuits but I never coughed up the coin to buy one. Maybe I will someday.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by jyl

Is there no romance in your soul, man?

you can run Excel on a Mac

[trj911]

I have a Monroe Trader on my desk at work. And a Bloomberg.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by trj911

I have a Monroe Trader on my desk at work. And a Bloomberg.

You don’t need the Monroe! C’mon, help a guy out!