The stock market isn't necessarily something many people want to be thinking about at the moment, but this little arty application might take the edge off of those margin calls.
Created by media student James Grant, this orbiting system is a visual feast that might prove useful in the future. As mentioned on the website Flowing Data, the Stock Ticker Orbital Comparison (or "STOC") might make a good prop "in the background in some futuristic stock market movie," as its immediate use is very limited. Grant gives a disclaimer on his site that the downloadable application should not be used for any kind of trading as it's not in real time (it can lag real trading values by 20 minutes and it can lock up all together) and it hasn't been tested in a trading environment.
So, it's more of a design project, but it's not too hard to see how this might be of practical use. As you watch the dots flying around -- much like the stars orbiting a galactic nucleus, but I'll ignore the impossible mix of orbital speeds and prograde/retrograde orbital chaos -- you get a great overall view of the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500.
I think the usefulness would increase if the most active stocks (the ones that are being traded the most) drift closer to the core (thus spinning around faster) and if all the stocks orbited in the same direction. Other than that, it's certainly fun to play around with even if, like me, you can't tell the difference between a bull and a bear.
Source: Flowing Data. Via: @Avinio, @gfish3000
Tags: Computer Simulation
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