CSI
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.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersBoca Raton, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
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.
CSI firmographics
Firmographics- 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
CSI industry classification
Industry- 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
Where CSI is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Boca Raton
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
CSI business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- 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.
- Unfair Advantage Software Licensing: Software licensing for the Unfair Advantage trading platform, including trial options and full subscriptions.
- 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
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | One time | 21-day trial for Unfair Advantage software |
| Subscription | Annual | Intermarket Analysis subscription |
| Subscription | Monthly | Technical Analysis subscription |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
CSI product offering
Product offeringCore 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
Companies that use CSI
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
CSI technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
Feature6 records
CSI partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered featured and core.
- Wisdom TradingfeaturedWisdom 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 BloxcoreTrading 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.
- TradeStationcoreTradeStation is a recognized software platform compatible with CSI data feeds, allowing CSI customers to integrate market data with TradeStation trading functionality.
- NinjaTradercoreNinjaTrader is a supported trading platform partner with CSI, enabling CSI data subscribers to use their data within the NinjaTrader trading environment.
- AmiBrokercoreCSI Unfair Advantage is compliant with AmiBroker and offers database preferences for exporting futures data and century dates to AmiBroker for backtesting and analysis.
- MultiChartscoreCSI data feed can be used with MultiCharts trading software, enabling integration for automated trading and technical analysis.
- VantagePointfeaturedCSI 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
CSI competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad 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
CSI social profiles
Digital presenceCSI financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CSI leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
CSI funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CSI M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CSI
What does CSI do?
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.
Is CSI a public or private company?
CSI is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was CSI founded?
CSI was founded in -1. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is CSI based?
CSI is headquartered in Boca Raton, United States, in the North America region.
How does CSI make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Data Subscription Services are the primary driver. The others are unfair Advantage Software Licensing and historical Data Packages.
Who are CSI's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are DTN, Bloomberg and LSEG (Refinitiv). Direct peers are TradingView, Barchart, MetaStock, TC2000 (Worden Brothers) and NinjaTrader. Emerging players are Alpha Vantage and Polygon.io.
Does CSI have an API?
No public API is recorded for CSI.
What industry is CSI in?
CSI's product category is Financial Market Data and Trading Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAFAIAA, Real-Time Market Data Feeds & Terminals. Its NAICS code is 52321 and its SIC code is 6200.