Open Terminal
Show HN: I built an open-source financial research terminal (SEC data and SQL)
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What is Open Terminal?
Open Terminal is a professional financial research platform built by Tesseract Analytics for individual investors who want access to the same depth of company research that professional investors use. The tool pulls together real SEC financial data, live market news, company summaries, and an AI-powered analysis system into one clear interface that doesn't require a finance background to navigate.
Key features include six research tools: Financials (chart revenue, operating income, R&D spend across companies over time), Companies (search 10,000+ public companies with plain-English summaries and SEC filings), Quadrant (compare companies across two metrics using scatter plots), News (filter financial news by relevance and sentiment), AI (ask plain-English questions and get data-backed answers with charts), and SQL (write queries against the full financial database for power users). The platform also offers live stock prices, analyst ratings, watchlists with portfolio backtesting, and the ability to create personalized financial formulas.
Open Terminal is built for everyday investors who feel they're working with incomplete information, careful researchers who want to compare options properly before investing, and numbers people who prefer drawing their own conclusions from raw financials rather than relying on analyst summaries. It democratizes financial data by making professional-grade research tools accessible to everyone without requiring a Bloomberg terminal or research team.
Open Terminal pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Pricing information is not explicitly published on the main website. The platform appears to be accessible through terminal.tesseractanalytics.ai with an 'Open the app' option. The project is open source and available on GitHub. No free tier details, paid plan prices, or subscription structures are publicly listed on the website.
Open Terminal pros
- Real SEC financial data from official filings
- Live market news with automatic sentiment scoring
- AI-powered analysis answers plain-English questions
- No finance background required to navigate
- 10,000+ public companies searchable by name, ticker, or sector
- Six integrated research tools in one interface
- Financials tool charts metrics side by side over time
- Quadrant tool creates scatter plots across two metrics
- News automatically classified as directly relevant or industry coverage
- SQL access for power users to query underlying database
- Plain-English business summaries for companies
- Custom formula creation for personalized metrics
- Watchlists with portfolio backtesting capabilities
- Live stock prices and analyst ratings included
- All company data, news, charts, and AI in one place without switching tools
Open Terminal cons
- Only covers US public companies with SEC filings
- SQL feature requires technical knowledge
- No mobile app mentioned, web-only interface
- May lack real-time data delays compared to professional terminals
- Limited to financial data, no alternative data sources
- No social trading or community features
- Quadrant analysis limited to two metrics at once
- AI answers may not replace professional financial advice
Frequently asked questions about Open Terminal
What is Open Terminal?
Open Terminal is a financial research platform for individual investors that brings real SEC financial data, live market news, company summaries, charts, and AI-powered analysis into one clear interface. It was built to democratize access to professional-grade research tools that have historically been available only through expensive tools like Bloomberg terminals.
What data does Open Terminal use?
The platform pulls real SEC financial data from official company filings, combined with live market news, stock prices, and analyst ratings. All financial metrics like revenue, operating income, and R&D spend come directly from SEC filings.
How many companies can I research?
You can search and research 10,000+ public US companies by name, ticker, or sector. Each company has plain-English business summaries, recent SEC filings, and related news all in one place.
Do I need a finance background to use Open Terminal?
No, Open Terminal was specifically built to present financial data in a way that doesn't require a finance background to navigate. The interface uses plain-English summaries and the AI can answer questions in regular language.
What is the Quadrant tool?
Quadrant is a comparison tool that lets you plot any financial formula on X and Y axes across your watchlist. It creates scatter plots to help you spot which companies stand out or don't on the metrics that matter to you, useful for visual comparisons across two dimensions at once.
How does the AI feature work?
The AI lets you type plain-English questions like 'which healthcare companies have growing profit margins?' and returns a chart plus a straight data-backed answer without requiring you to write any formulas yourself. It translates your questions into SQL queries and visualizations.
Can I write my own SQL queries?
Yes, the SQL tool gives power users direct access to the underlying financial database. You can write SQL queries against the full dataset to explore angles that the other tools don't cover or dig deeper into specific data points.
How does news filtering work?
Financial news articles are automatically classified as either directly about your stock or just broadly related industry coverage. Each article is also scored for sentiment, so you can focus on what's actually relevant to your investments rather than filtering through noise.
Is Open Terminal open source?
Yes, Open Terminal is open source and available on GitHub. The project was built by Alex Dolotov, founder of Tesseract Analytics, with the goal of making financial research easier for anyone who takes their investments seriously.
What types of investors is Open Terminal built for?
Open Terminal is built for three main types: the everyday investor who feels working with incomplete information, the careful researcher who wants to compare options properly before investing by looking at actual financials and filings, and the numbers person who prefers forming their own view from raw financial data rather than relying on someone else's interpretation.