I have a requirement to provide “first and last trade dates” for future, that is to say the first and last days on which it can be traded. I find that in the event group of instrument there is an Event Type (865) “Last eligible trade date” which seems promising. Is there an equivalent for the first date on which something can be traded ? It makes me think I must be missing something.
Is “Activation” (5) the event of an instrument becoming tradable ?
@davidcgibbs in the absence of an explicit value for “First trade date” the existing value 5=Activation is a good option. Formally, it only means that an instrument is active which may mean active for trading but may also mean active for some other service.
In practical terms, very few venues will offer a staging service where they distribute reference data for instruments prior to the ability to trade them. Normally, whatever a reference data feed contains is available for trading. The last trade date is more relevant in order to prepare accordingly and not having to infer that due to a “missing” instrument (reference data may also be needed beyond the last trade date of an instrument).
I would not recommend to use 6=Inactivation instead of 7=Last eligible trade date. Activation and inactivation is better suited for instruments that may have more than one period (=consecutive days) of trading. Normally, an instrument only has one such period, not becoming active again once it has had its last trade date.
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Thank you for your helpful response.