A major hurdle was passed over this long weekend. I’ve tried many different data providers (Yahoo, Weather Underground etc) and I’ve written automated scripts to download weather data for each of them. Finally I found one that doesn’t require me learning a lot to make it work (don’t ask me but JSON and I don’t get along).

After that, once I had the weather data, I just needed to connect the dots. Securities are updated with their last “price”. Money moves according to the positions and quantity of those securities. And everything runs automatically without my intervention. W00t!

Mark to Market – the act of moving cash out of client accounts (i.e. yours) when weather goes against your position (making it worth less) is not working – and for the time being, won’t happen. Money only moves when securities EXPIRE.

And only certain cities are covered (Toronto, Mississauga, some others) but each day (not just Saturdays) are set up (again, automatically without intervention).

So enjoy. Feel free to suggest changes. Or request explanations like “so what does this site do exactly?”

Update: Trade Settlement works (better). Both buyer and seller (long and short positions) require a deposit equal to the Price * Quantity (which is transferred into an company account). On Expiry, the combined amount is (will be) deposited into the Seller’s account then immediately before settling up. This is the equivalent of the seller receiving a premium for having taken on the risk, their own deposit returned to them and only then working out the payment to the buyer (if any) equaling the quantity * rainfall (or wind speed or temperature).