It's something we've looked at before @tomsmithidg and would like to do. It's not so much about coding anything at our end, but in paying the rent-seeking so and so's that require licensed access to the data.

The landscape has probably changed since I last looked, so I should circle back.

As for the US, it's obviously much bigger, and has some great stocks, but hard not to be a little gloomy about the US's immediate economic prospects also.

Still, opportunity is always out there..

@Strawman , maybe some sort of AI powered data scraping bot could do the job these days? Stick it to the rent seekers.

Right On @tomsmithidg

@tomsmithidg I have about 14% of my international fund in Small Cap Index Trackers funds, including Russell 2000 and also non-US funds. It is a passive strategy, but based on the relative value of this sector.

Excluding property, I have less that 10% of my total assets invested in Australia, and about 4-5% of that is ASX equities, indicated by my Strawman portfolio. In terms of active investing, I have chosen to focus on ASX, where my stock portfolio is a serial underperformer. Mercifully, my passive international portfolio averages 8-9% p.a., which is more than I need to live on.

One argument against expanding the scope of Strawman is that there are just so many international stocks so, in a community this small, it would be hard to get a quality dialogue going. The value of Strawman, to me, is that we get some pretty good conversations going over time on maybe something like 100 or so stocks, and over time a member can develop a view on who actually knows what they are talking about, and from member content and challenges, really raise their understanding of a business.

Might that not be diluted if we expanded the scope? I think it might, and my preference would be to maintain the ASX focus. And I say that even though 90% of my interests lie overseas!

One argument against expanding the scope of Strawman is that there are just so many international stocks so, in a community this small, it would be hard to get a quality dialogue going.

I agree @mikebrisy. There is also a lot of US focused stock forums so I'm not sure such a small community as SM would add much value in a crowded field.

I like the ethos of SM, of high quality content rather than tonnes of content in a relatively undercovered niche like the ASX ex-200. I feel like international coverage would require a significantly larger member base – without diluting the quality.

I agree with @mikebrisy that our SM community is well sized and focused predominantly on Aussy small caps but ASX in general. However I also agree with @tomsmithidg’s interest in having a similar high quality forum to discuss US stocks – when I was spending a lot of time on US companies 5-6 years ago I had the same thoughts.

Maybe @Strawman it’s time for your global franchise expansion with Strawman US ???

????

The issue isn't access to the data, it is *legal* access to the data @tomsmithidg. For the ASX it's a redistribution license that starts at $2,785/month (that's on top of the data itself). The US is similar. Real time data can actually be as much as $40k/month for a Digital Media license from the NYSE.

It's different for individuals. Or for businesses that use the data internally. But as soon as you seek to broadcast it publicly, that's when it bites.

Those margins don't maintain themselves, you know.

So, there you go @mikebrisy -- it's not just Visa and Verisign that have maintained margins of this degree for a long time. There could well be hope for PME's long term net margins yet!

Who is that NM chart for @Strawman ? The NYSE?

ASX Ltd @Bear77 -- based off of what is on CommSec

I'd also be concerned about dilution if SM were to try to emulate itself with US content. There are enough companies and opportunities for me in Australia, I haven't yet found the need to go searching elsewhere.

I fear a wider US/global focus would dilute the feed such that I'd want the UI revised so I could filter out international content.

I think SM offers a unique proposition with its Aus focus. It will bump into competitors with a US/global focus. Eg, I get the MicroCapClub newsletter, which I find interesting when it touches on broad investing principles. If I wanted a US focus I'd probably take out a subscription with MicroCapClub which I see as broadly similar in purpose and philosophy as SM.

That is pretty much my view also @DrPete - Actually, it's exactly my view. Very well articulated.