He Built a $24K Bloomberg Terminal For Free With AI. Here Is How.

A developer named Florin just built a stock screening system that does what Bloomberg Terminal does. It scans all 500 S&P 500 stocks in 15 seconds. It runs Warren Buffett's 10 investment formulas on any stock in 2 seconds. It pulls official SEC filing data. And it cost him exactly zero dollars. Bloomberg charges $24,000 a year for basically the same capability.

This is the full breakdown of how he did it, what tools he used, and how you can build something like it yourself.

Quick summary of what this system does:

• Scans 500 S&P 500 stocks for oversold signals in 15 seconds
• Runs 10 Buffett-style fundamental analysis formulas on any stock in 2-3 seconds
• Pulls real SEC EDGAR filing data (not scraped estimates)
• Uses SQLite caching so repeat scans take under 30 seconds
• Controlled entirely from Telegram on your phone
• Total cost: a few dollars a month in AI API tokens

Why Bloomberg Terminal Costs $24,000 (And Why Most People Don't Need It)

Bloomberg Terminal is the gold standard on Wall Street. Traders, analysts, and hedge fund managers use it for real-time market data, company financials, news, execution, and the Bloomberg messaging network. It's a beast. And it costs $2,000 a month. That's $24,000 a year for a single seat.

But here's the thing. Most individual investors use maybe 10-15% of what Bloomberg offers. They want to screen stocks, check fundamentals, run some technical indicators, and maybe compare a few companies. They don't need the real-time futures execution. They don't need the Bloomberg chat network. They don't need the fixed income analytics.

Tool	Annual Cost	Best For	Main Limitation
Bloomberg Terminal	$24,000	Institutional traders, hedge funds	Wildly expensive for retail investors
FactSet	~$12,000	Research analysts, portfolio managers	Still enterprise pricing
Koyfin	$468 (Plus plan)	Serious retail investors	No AI analysis, manual screening only
Finviz Elite	$180	Technical screeners	Limited fundamental depth
Morningstar Premium	$249	Fund research, ratings	Weak on technical analysis
DIY AI Agent (this build)	~$36 (API tokens)	Individual investors who want full control	Requires setup, not real-time execution

So the question becomes: if you're a regular investor who wants professional-grade screening without the professional-grade price tag, what do you actually need?

The Architecture: Four Layers, Zero Subscriptions

Florin's system uses four components. Each one is either free or costs pennies.

Layer 1: AI Agent (OpenClaw + Claude) handles the orchestration. It's the brain. It takes your natural language commands ("scan for oversold stocks" or "analyze AAPL"), figures out what scripts to run, interprets the results, and sends you a clean summary. This is the only part that costs anything, and it's just API tokens. A few bucks a month depending on how often you scan.

Layer 2: Python Scripts do the actual computation. Three scripts handle three jobs: technical screening, combined screening, and deep-dive fundamental analysis. The AI agent calls these scripts when you ask for something. Simple.

Layer 3: Free Public APIs provide the data. Yahoo Finance (via the yfinance Python library) gives you price data, historical OHLCV, and basic metrics. No API key needed. No signup required. SEC EDGAR gives you official financial statements. Balance sheets, income statements, cash flow. All public, all free, rate limited to 10 requests per second.

Layer 4: Telegram is the interface. You type commands in a chat. Results come back in the same chat. Run it from your phone, your laptop, anywhere. No desktop app required.

That's it. No subscription fees. No data vendor contracts. No enterprise license agreements.

Script 1: The Oversold Scanner (500 Stocks in 15 Seconds)

Type "oversold" into Telegram. Fifteen seconds later, you get a list of every S&P 500 stock trading near its recent low.

The scanner uses an indicator called Williams %R. It measures where a stock's current price sits within its 21-day high-low range. The scale runs from 0 to -100. If a stock scores below -80, it's considered oversold, meaning the price is near the bottom of its recent range and could potentially bounce.

Here's a concrete example. Say a stock hit $100 at its highest point in the last 21 days and $60 at its lowest. If it's currently trading at $62, the Williams %R would read around -95. That's deep oversold territory. The same indicator costs professional traders thousands of dollars to access through Bloomberg's charting tools.

When Florin ran his first scan, he found 93 oversold stocks out of 500. Almost 19% of the S&P 500 in oversold territory. The top five most oversold:

• Visa: -99.3 (price just 0.7% above its 21-day low)
• Axon Enterprise: -98.7
• The Trade Desk: -98.1
• Constellation Energy: -97.6
• Fair Isaac (FICO): -97.5

Professional traders pay real money to see exactly this data. This system surfaces it in 15 seconds for free.

Script 2: Combined Screening (Technical + Fundamental)

The second script goes deeper. It combines the Williams %R oversold detection with fundamental analysis from SEC filings. So you're not just finding stocks that are technically cheap. You're finding stocks that are technically cheap AND fundamentally sound.

This scan takes 1-3 minutes because it's pulling deeper data from SEC EDGAR for each stock. But the result is a shortlist of companies that pass both the technical and fundamental filters. You get stocks that are trading near their recent lows with strong cash positions, manageable debt, and consistent earnings.

That combination is powerful. Most free screeners give you one or the other. Technical tools like TradingView show you chart patterns but don't dig into 10-K filings. Fundamental tools like Finviz show you ratios but miss the timing signals. This system does both in one shot.

Script 3: The Buffett Analyzer (10 Formulas in 2 Seconds)

This is the one that made me say holy moly.

Type "analyze AAPL" and in about 2-3 seconds, the AI agent runs Warren Buffett's actual 10 investment formulas on Apple using real SEC EDGAR data. Not estimates from a third-party website. Not scraped numbers from some finance blog. Official SEC filings that companies are legally required to submit.

The 10 formulas cover:

1. The Cash Test - Does the company have sufficient cash reserves?
2. Debt Ratio Analysis - Is the company overleveraged?
3. Profit Margin Check - Are margins healthy and stable?
4. Return on Equity (ROE) - Is the company generating strong returns on shareholder investment?
5. Earnings Consistency - Has the company produced reliable earnings year over year?
6. Revenue Growth - Is top-line revenue trending upward?
7. Book Value Growth - Is the underlying value of the company increasing?
8. Capital Expenditure Ratio - How much is reinvested vs. available as free cash flow?
9. Current Ratio - Can the company cover short-term obligations?
10. Retained Earnings Trend - Is the company reinvesting earnings effectively?

An analyst at a hedge fund might spend 30-60 minutes manually pulling these numbers from SEC filings and running the calculations. This system does it in 2 seconds. And it uses the exact same source data.

The Secret Sauce: Smart Caching With SQLite

Here's where Florin got really clever. The first time you run a full scan, it takes 3-5 minutes because it's fetching fresh data from Yahoo Finance and SEC EDGAR for 500 stocks. Every scan after that? 15-30 seconds.

The trick is SQLite caching with smart expiration rules:

• Price data: cached for 1 day (prices change daily, so you want fresh data each session)
• Fundamental data: cached for 7 days (SEC filings don't change daily, quarterly at most)

This means you're only hitting the APIs when you actually need new data. No wasted requests. No rate limit issues. And your scans go from minutes to seconds after the initial load. It's the difference between a demo and a tool you actually use every morning.

What Bloomberg Has That This Doesn't (The Honest Comparison)

I'm not going to pretend this is a perfect Bloomberg replacement. It's not. If you're a professional trader at a bank, you still need Bloomberg. Here's what's missing:

• Real-time execution: Bloomberg lets you trade directly from the terminal. This system is analysis-only. You still need a broker.
• Fixed income and derivatives data: Bond pricing, options chains, credit default swaps. Bloomberg's fixed income data is unmatched and this build doesn't touch it.
• The Bloomberg messaging network: IB Chat is how Wall Street communicates. There's no replacement for that social layer.
• Real-time streaming data: Yahoo Finance has a slight delay. Bloomberg is instant. For day traders, that matters. For swing traders and long-term investors, it doesn't.
• Multi-asset coverage: Bloomberg covers every asset class globally. This build focuses on US equities via S&P 500.

But here's the flip side. If you're a regular investor looking for good stocks to buy, checking fundamentals, and screening for technical setups, this covers probably 80% of what you'd actually use Bloomberg for. At 0% of the cost.

Why This Pattern Matters (Even If You Don't Trade Stocks)

The stock screener is cool. But the real lesson here is the pattern. This developer took an industry where the standard tool costs $24,000 a year and built a functional alternative for free using AI.

That pattern works everywhere:

Industry	Expensive Tool	Typical Cost	AI Agent Opportunity
Finance	Bloomberg Terminal	$24,000/year	Stock screening + SEC analysis
Real Estate	CoStar / LoopNet Premium	$6,000-15,000/year	Property analysis + market comps
Legal	Westlaw / LexisNexis	$10,000+/year	Case research + document analysis
Marketing	SEMrush / Ahrefs (full suite)	$1,200-5,000/year	Keyword research + competitor analysis
Recruiting	LinkedIn Recruiter	$8,000-12,000/year	Candidate sourcing + outreach

The formula is always the same: find the expensive tool, identify the 80% of features people actually use, connect free or cheap data sources to an AI agent, and build a focused alternative.

How to Build Your Own Version (Step by Step)

If you want to build something similar, here's the path:

1. Pick your data sources. For stock screening, Yahoo Finance (yfinance library) and SEC EDGAR are your foundation. Both free. Both well-documented.
2. Write your screening scripts. Python is the move here. The yfinance library makes pulling price data a one-liner. SEC EDGAR has a REST API you can query with basic HTTP requests.
3. Set up caching. SQLite is lightweight and built into Python. Cache price data for 1 day, fundamental data for 7 days. This is what makes it fast enough to use daily.
4. Connect to an AI agent. OpenClaw with Claude gives you the natural language interface. The agent calls your Python scripts, interprets results, and responds in plain English.
5. Add a chat interface. Telegram is the easiest. You get mobile access for free. Type "oversold" from your phone while you're having coffee and get results before you finish the cup.

The whole setup can be running in a weekend if you focus. It's not a massive engineering project. It's three Python scripts, a SQLite database, and an AI agent to tie it all together.

When This Is NOT For You

Real talk. This build is not the right move for everyone.

• If you're a day trader who needs millisecond execution and real-time Level 2 data, this won't cut it. Yahoo Finance data has a delay. You need a direct market data feed for scalping.
• If you trade options or fixed income, the data coverage isn't there. Options chains, bond pricing, and derivatives analysis require specialized data feeds that free APIs don't provide.
• If you want a polished GUI with charts, this is a chat interface. No candlestick charts. No drawing tools. If you need visual technical analysis, pair this with TradingView's free tier for charting.
• If you're not comfortable running Python scripts, there's a learning curve. It's not plug and play. You need basic comfort with command line tools and editing config files.

For long-term fundamental investors and swing traders who want to find good stocks without paying thousands of dollars? This is exactly what you need.

FAQ

Can you really replace Bloomberg Terminal for free?

For individual investors doing fundamental and technical screening, yes. This system covers about 80% of what retail investors use Bloomberg for. The missing 20% is real-time execution, fixed income data, and the Bloomberg messaging network. Most individual investors never touch those features anyway.

What APIs does a DIY Bloomberg Terminal use?

Two free APIs handle most of the work. Yahoo Finance (via the yfinance Python library) provides real-time price data, historical OHLCV, and basic fundamentals with no API key required. SEC EDGAR provides official financial statements including balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow data. Rate limit is 10 requests per second.

How much does Bloomberg Terminal cost in 2026?

Bloomberg Terminal costs $24,000 per year ($2,000 per month) for a single seat. Enterprise pricing with additional terminals typically runs $20,000 per additional seat. Other professional alternatives like FactSet cost around $12,000 per year, and Morningstar Premium runs $249 per year for limited screening.

What is Williams Percent R and how does the AI stock screener use it?

Williams %R measures where a stock's current price sits within its 21-day high-low range on a scale of 0 to -100. Below -80 means the stock is trading near its recent low (oversold territory), which can signal a potential bounce. The AI screener scans all 500 S&P 500 stocks and flags every stock below -80 in about 15 seconds.

Is this AI stock screener legal to use?

Yes. All data sources are publicly available. Yahoo Finance data is free for personal use. SEC EDGAR is a government database that companies are legally required to file with. The AI agent runs on your own machine analyzing public data. No scraping of paid services, no terms of service violations.

How long does it take to set up?

If you're comfortable with Python and command line tools, you can have a basic version running in a weekend. The three core scripts (oversold scanner, combined screener, Buffett analyzer) plus SQLite caching and Telegram integration. Most of the time goes to writing the screening logic. The AI agent setup takes about 30 minutes.

The Bottom Line

A regular developer, not a Wall Street quant, built a stock screening system that runs 10 Buffett formulas in 2 seconds and scans 500 stocks in 15 seconds. Using free public data. Controlled from his phone. For the cost of a few dollars a month in API tokens.

Bloomberg Terminal is still the best tool money can buy. But most people aren't buying it. This is the 80/20 version. The version a regular investor can actually use.

Whatever expensive tool exists in your industry, the same pattern applies. Free data sources + AI agent + smart caching = a tool that handles the heavy lifting for pennies.

If you want to learn how to build projects like this and actually ship them, come join us in Shipping Skool. We do live build sessions six times a week and share real use cases every single day. Not just ideas. Real projects that real people are building and shipping.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. Nothing here is financial advice. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.