Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a QuantGo Virtual Quant Lab ("VQL") ?
- It is your own private and secure cloud running on top of the Amazon cloud infrastructure. You can launch any number of computer instances in the VQL and you have complete control and responsibility for each computer instance. It is like having your own computers but in the cloud. You access computer instances by remote login or extend your network with a Virtual Private Network ("VPN"). The QuantGo web console is used to launch or start/stop your computer instances. Each computer instance has immediate access to any of the Data Services you have subscribed to. Each VQL has a Data Gateway computer instance through which all network traffic passes and is responsible for downloading data from our Data Partners.
- What is a Data Service ?
- A set of historical data you can access and download to computer instances in your VQL. QuantGo has over a 1000 Data Services , providing historical data for every exchange worldwide. Services may be a 1) monthly subscription to access years of data, for example AlgoSeek US Equities Trades and Quotes gives you access to 5+ years of TAQ data for $250 per month or 2) a one time payment, for example download 1 year of End of Day pricing for Mongolian Stock exchange.
You subscribe to Data Services using your QuantGo website console and every instance in your VQL then has on-demand access to the data.
- What is a Data Service Demo ?
- Each active Data Service has free demo data that you can download to view the data you would receive upon subscribing. The demo data is real data but limited to a date range or specific symbol. This allows you to try out a Service before subscribing.
- What is the cost to try QuantGo ?
- There is a one time $95 setup fee for a standard VQL (Virtual Quant Lab) for an individual. You are responsible for all the related cloud usage costs (see www.quantgo.com/VQLPricing ). With your VQL you can try free demo data (real data) from our Data Services before subscribing to a Data Service. Your hourly running costs using the default Data Gateway instance (m1.small) and a Windows m3.medium instance will be approx 22 cents ($0.22) per hour. If you experiment for 10 hours, you will have approx $2.20 in cloud cost.
- What Software Can I Use ?
- You can use any software as you launch your own computer instances that you manage and control in a secure and private cloud. You can select any operating system and install whatever software you want or use a pre-defined instance from QuantGo. Your computer instances access data by installing open source GUI, Command Line Interface , API or use the QuantGo R, Matlab, Python, Java libraries.
- Can I Upload My Data ?
- You can upload whatever data you like and there is no charge to upload any data. As with all cloud usage, you will pay for the virtual disk storage (see VQL Pricing)
- Can I Download Data out My VQL ?
- You can download results of your research, trading simulations, own data, etc, etc. You cannot download the data from a Data Partner out of the VQL.
If you want to use the Data Partner data outside of the VQL you must contact the Data Partner directly about buying the data. Each VQL has a Data Gateway which will notify QuantGo if it suspects Data Partner data being downloaded out of the VQL.
- How do I access my computer instances ?
- An individual client uses encrypted remote login (RDP for windows or ssh for linux) from your local computer. It is exactly the same as having your computer instance(s) locally, but you are remotely logged into them. Firms can extend their network to connect to their VQL with a Virtual Private Network and get a custom VQL, for example hadoop clustering.
- What is the Data Gateway ?
- Each VQL has a Data Gateway through which all network traffic in and out of the VQL passes. It performs a variety of functions including downloading data from our Data Partners and monitoring outbound network traffic patterns. The default instance size of the Data Gateway is m1.small but you can change this to any instance type. A larger (CPU and memory) instance type will increase the data download speed from the Data Partners to your computer instances in the VQL as the Data Gateway receives data from the Data Partner in a proprietary format and then has to uncompress and convert it to the standard QuantGo format before sending it to your computer instance.
- How Do I Access Data and the API ?
- There is only one API to access all QuantGo’s Data Partners. QuantGo provides all the tools you need, including an open source java GUI, python command line applicationr, raw socket API and libraries for R, Matlab, Java, Python. Clients typically start with the easy to use GUI and then progress onto the command line or direct connection to the API. There is an open source java demo application for connecting directly to the API.
- Can I use R and Matlab ?
- QuantGo provides you an open source Matlab toolset or R so you can work with data directly from Matlab or R. QuantGo also has Java and Python libraries, Python Command Line Interface app and a well defined API.
- What are Instance Types ?
- QuantGo platform is built on top of the Amazon cloud. Amazon cloud allows you to run computer instances of varying compute power and memory size, these are the Instance Types.
- How do I manage and create my computer instances ?
- The QuantGo web console allows you to create, start/stop, terminate and manage your computer instances, VQL and Data Services all from your browser.
- How do I subscribe to Data Services ?
- With the QuantGo web console you can subscribe to any Data Service and then immediately access the data from any your computer instances.
- Support Options
- Basic Support is included with your VQL. With basic support you can email QuantGo and will receive an answer within 24 hours (Mon to Fri). For further support, you can select a support plan from www.QuantGo.com/support .
- Data Service Pricing
- Data Services are priced either as as 1) a monthly recurring fee for access to years of data or 2) a one time fee to download a range of data to your VQL.
- Free Trial Data
- Most Data Services have a free trial of the data you can try before subscribing to the service. The trial is either real symbols or a date range.
- Demo Instance
- The Demo Instance is a pre-configured QuantGo windows computer instance you can launch in the VQL that has software and demonstrations already installed.
- What are VQL Cloud Costs ?
- The QuantGo VQL is built upon the Amazon Cloud Infrastructure. You are responsible for the cloud related costs for your VQL. For a standard individual VQL, that is unused the monthly cost will primarily be your EBS disk space on your computer instances.
QuantGo adds a BillingConfig[]. AWSPercMarkup % markup to Amazon pricing. View QuantGo pricing at www.quantgo.com/VQLPricing .
- Security and Encryption
- Your research is highly confidential and has to be secure. To ensure data security, all virtual disks (except root operating system disk) attached to client computer instances are automatically encrypted. The encryption is seamless and leverages Amazon’s automated virtual disk encryption. You can also add your own layer of disk encryption.
- Custom VQL and Clusters
- QuantGo can create custom VQL to allow you to run clusters (eg. Hadoop cluster) or to meet other specialized needs or configurations.
- Hybrid Cloud
- To seamlessly integrate your existing research infrastructure with a QuantGo VQL, a hybrid cloud can be built combining your inhosue research assets with a QuantGo VQL.