CSI

What CSI does

CSI (Commodity Systems Inc.) is a privately held Boca Raton, Florida-based vendor of end-of-day (EOD) and historical financial market data, founded in 1969 by Robert Pelletier and operating with 11-50 employees on a bootstrapped basis. The company's core product is the Unfair Advantage (UA) desktop trading software platform, which delivers daily data updates on thousands of time series across commodity futures from over 80 exchanges worldwide, NYSE and NASDAQ stocks, US mutual funds, and US government economic indicators (CPI, PPI, M1/M2/M3, unemployment). Data is distributed via FTP, HTTP, and HTTPS downloads following each business-day close, with a dedicated integrity team hand-checking values daily and historical coverage extending back to the middle of the 20th century for over 99% of listed markets.

The Unfair Advantage platform combines data access with charting, technical analysis, portfolio management, and export capabilities in formats compatible with major third-party trading platforms including AmiBroker, TradingBlox, MultiCharts, NinjaTrader, TradeStation, Wealth-Lab, and VantagePoint. Optional add-on modules include the Correlation Lab for intermarket analysis ($99/year) and a Market Scanner for symbol screening, with base technical analysis subscriptions starting at $25/month and a $20 / 21-day trial offering as the primary acquisition funnel. Supporting sub-brands include the QuickTrieve data format and registered trademarks spanning MultiMarket Analyzer, Trader's Money Manager, MarketScanner, Trading System Performance Evaluator, and CSI-PAC.

CSI generates revenue primarily through recurring software subscriptions and historical data package fees, with distribution via direct website self-service and a featured broker partner program led by Wisdom Trading. The customer base is a horizontal mix of individual traders, futures traders, stock market analysts, and trading-system platform users; only Wisdom Trading is publicly identified as a named partner. Governance is led by Founder Robert Pelletier with Jack Stauffer as President, and the company has shown continuous product iteration through 2024-2026 (including Unfair Advantage Version 2.10.8 Build 1091 and a Futures Metrics beta) but no disclosed acquisitions, funding rounds, or geographic expansion.

Name

CSI

Legal name

Commodity Systems Inc.

Website

https://csidata.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CSI (Commodity Systems Inc.) is a privately held, Boca Raton-based vendor of end-of-day and historical financial market data serving individual traders and trading-system platform users through its Unfair Advantage desktop software and subscriptions starting at $25 per month.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Market Data and Trading Software

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Exchanges (52321)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Real-Time Market Data Feeds & Terminals (FSAFAIAA)

Keywords

• End-of-day market data
• Trading software platform
• Historical financial data
• Commodity market data
• Technical analysis tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Boca Raton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Data Subscription Services: Recurring subscription fees for daily End of Day market data updates and historical data access. Plans and pricing vary according to customer needs for different data packages.
2. Unfair Advantage Software Licensing: Software licensing for the Unfair Advantage trading platform, including trial options and full subscriptions.
3. Historical Data Packages: One-time or recurring fees for historical market data covering futures, stocks, and other financial instruments extending back to the first day of trading.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

CSI (Commodity Systems Inc.) sells end-of-day financial market data subscriptions and the Unfair Advantage desktop trading software, providing daily updates on commodity futures from 80+ exchanges, NYSE/NASDAQ/American stocks, US mutual funds, and US government economic series. The Unfair Advantage platform combines data access, charting, technical analysis, portfolio management, and multi-format export (ASCII, Excel, CSIM, MetaStock) for integration with third-party trading systems.

Product overview

CSI (Commodity Systems Inc.) operates as a single unified offering combining EOD market data services with proprietary trading software called Unfair Advantage (UA). The core product is the Unfair Advantage platform, which serves as both a data access gateway and a full-featured trading/analysis workstation. Supporting this are data export modules (ASCII, Excel, CSIM, MetaStock formats) that integrate with third-party platforms including AmiBroker, TradingBlox, MultiCharts, Wealth-Lab, and VantagePoint. Optional add-ons include the Correlation Lab for intermarket analysis ($99/year) and Market Scanner for symbol screening. The company delivers end-of-day data on commodity futures from over 80 exchanges, NYSE/NASDAQ stocks, US mutual funds, and economic indicators, distributed via FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, or browser download. Pricing tiers include a $20 21-day trial and technical analysis services starting at $25/month.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Unfair Advantage: Trading software platform for technical analysis, charting, and data management with features including portfolio management, market scanning, and export capabilities. Available for Windows with pricing starting at $25/month for technical analysis.
• QuickTrieve
• Correlation Lab

Products and services

• Unfair Advantage (UA) Trading Software Desktop trading and market data software providing access to CSI's end-of-day data on commodity futures, stocks, options, forex, and mutual funds, with charting, technical analysis, portfolio management, market scanning, and multi-format data export for individual traders and analysts.
• End-of-Day (EOD) Market Data Service Subscription-based daily end-of-day market data service covering thousands of time series delivered via Internet at market close, including commodity futures from 80+ exchanges, NYSE stocks, NASDAQ stocks, American stocks, US mutual funds, and US government economic series (CPI, PPI, unemployment, national debt, M1, M2, M3).
• Correlation Lab

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 99% of markets in inventory extend from the very first day of trading
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered featured and core.

• Wisdom TradingfeaturedChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWisdom Trading is a featured broker partner of CSI, specialized in automated trading system execution with wide access to global futures markets. They serve as a support broker for Trading Blox, TradeStation, and NinjaTrader platforms and recommend CSI data services to their customers.
• Trading BloxcoreTechnology or IntegrationTrading Blox is an integration partner with CSI Unfair Advantage. CSI provides FuturesInfo.txt catalog files for Trading Blox backtesting software and supports Active Stock portfolios compatible with Trading Blox.
• TradeStationcoreTechnology or IntegrationTradeStation is a recognized software platform compatible with CSI data feeds, allowing CSI customers to integrate market data with TradeStation trading functionality.
• NinjaTradercoreTechnology or IntegrationNinjaTrader is a supported trading platform partner with CSI, enabling CSI data subscribers to use their data within the NinjaTrader trading environment.
• AmiBrokercoreTechnology or IntegrationCSI Unfair Advantage is compliant with AmiBroker and offers database preferences for exporting futures data and century dates to AmiBroker for backtesting and analysis.
• MultiChartscoreTechnology or IntegrationCSI data feed can be used with MultiCharts trading software, enabling integration for automated trading and technical analysis.
• VantagePointfeaturedTechnology or IntegrationCSI offers a special Unfair Advantage Package specifically designed for VantagePoint users, with pre-configured portfolios and simplified setup instructions for VP 8.4 and later versions.

Scale indicators5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• DTN: DTN is a broad market data and analytics provider (including IQFeed) with deeper resources, serving similar traders and analysts across more asset classes and delivery mechanisms, including real-time feeds that CSI does not offer.
• Bloomberg: Bloomberg Terminal is the dominant institutional market data and analytics platform with far broader coverage and much higher pricing; it represents the premium end of the data spectrum that CSI serves at the budget-conscious end.
• LSEG (Refinitiv): LSEG (formerly Refinitiv) operates comprehensive financial market data infrastructure including Workspace/Eikon, serving institutional clients with a much broader offering than CSI but overlapping on market data services and historical archives.

Direct peers

• TradingView: TradingView is a modern web-based charting and data platform that has captured retail traders with a freemium model, serving the same individual trader segment as CSI with a more modern UX, social features, and broader asset coverage.
• Barchart: Barchart provides market data, futures quotes, and charting with a strong focus on commodities and futures—directly overlapping with CSI's core data coverage and trader base, and competing for the same futures-focused retail customers.
• MetaStock: MetaStock is a direct competitor offering end-of-day trading software with technical analysis and charting, targeting the same individual/small-institutional trader segment that CSI serves. CSI data can even be exported in MetaStock format.
• TC2000 (Worden Brothers): TC2000 is a charting and market data platform with EOD and real-time options, similar in target customer and product positioning to CSI's Unfair Advantage, with overlapping technical analysis and screening features.
• NinjaTrader: NinjaTrader is both a CSI integration partner and a competing trading platform offering its own market data feeds, futures brokerage, and analysis tools to retail and active traders—overlapping with CSI on data and on software.

Emerging players

• Alpha Vantage: Alpha Vantage offers free and low-cost API-based market data primarily to developers and fintech builders—an emerging, low-cost alternative that competes on price for non-institutional and backtesting use cases adjacent to CSI's market.
• Polygon.io: Polygon.io is a modern API-first market data vendor targeting developers and quantitative traders with real-time and historical data—an emerging alternative to legacy desktop EOD data products like CSI's Unfair Advantage.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/commodity-systems-inc-

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CSI