Field notes
What real traders ask.
Straight answers on data sources, pricing, and what's still in beta.
Does the feed go down during Ramadan or Eid?
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No. The exchange feed runs whenever BMD/MDEX is open. We add a market-hours indicator so you know when ticks are live vs settled.
Who writes the Private Analyst notes?
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Rasad drafts them from the licensed Dow Jones wire, strips out any source's identity, and a person on our desk reviews every note before it reaches Medium members. Plain-English, and never auto-posted without that review.
How fast does the exchange rate update for landed cost?
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For Pakistan, the live market today, Rasad fetches the official State Bank of Pakistan weighted-average USD/PKR (offer side) on demand from the central-bank page. The landed-cost calculator uses that rate plus our published duty assumptions, which an operator reviews; a rate older than the last working day is flagged stale, and nothing is fabricated. Other markets use their own central-bank rate as they roll out.
Can I use Rasad from anywhere in the world?
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Yes. There is no geo-restriction. Rasad is built for palm-oil desks worldwide — refiners, importers and bank desks in every palm market, including desks in Dubai, KL, Singapore, and London.
What is a maund? Why not just show MT?
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A maund is 37.324 kg — the unit Pakistani mandi and refinery-gate conversations use, so 1 metric ton is about 26.79 maunds. For the Pakistan market the local-price view shows both maund and metric-ton figures; other markets show the units they buy in.
Which ports and products do you cover?
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Pakistan is live today — Port Qasim and the palm products it imports: RBD palm olein, CPO, and palm kernel oil (PKO). India, China, Bangladesh, Europe (Rotterdam), Malaysia and Indonesia are rolling out, each with its own port and products. If you trade something we are missing, tell us and we will look at adding it.
What happens during a FCPO limit-up / limit-down?
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Rasad shows the latest exchange state it has received and marks stale/offline states plainly. The calculator will not fabricate prices while the market is halted or closed.
Can I export data to PDF or Excel?
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Export is on the roadmap for Institute desks. The launch focuses on the live terminal, monitor, full-story newswire reader, and the landed-cost desk (Pakistan live today, more markets rolling out).
How quickly do duty changes show up in landed cost?
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At launch, duty changes are operator-reviewed before they affect any landed-cost output. For Pakistan the live market today, that means FBR SRO changes; automated duty scraping and private-source alerts are the next release gate. Other markets follow the same operator-reviewed approach as they roll out.
What is your uptime guarantee?
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Standard plans are launch access, not a formal SLA. Institute / desk terms (SLA, backup, support workflow) are handled directly under a custom contract.
Can I share a seat with a colleague?
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Starter, Medium, and Max are single-user seats. Multi-seat onboarding is handled through the Institute / desk plan.
Do you offer white-label for brokers or banks?
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Enterprise white-label is available as a scoped implementation, not a self-serve toggle. We will not promise custom infrastructure until requirements and data rights are reviewed.
How does billing work?
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Public plans are billed yearly: Starter $300/year ($25/mo equivalent) and Medium $480/year ($40/mo equivalent). Max is $999/year ($83/mo equivalent). Institute is a custom yearly contract. Existing legacy members keep their original access. Saved scenarios, watchlists, and alert rules stay with your account.
Can I pay in my local currency?
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Plans are billed once a year in US dollars on a card. If paying in dollars is a problem, message us on WhatsApp and we will work out a local way for you to pay.
Which features are live today, and which are still coming?
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Live now: the Bursa FCPO desk, the forward curve, full Dow Jones stories, and search across the contract universe. Rolling out: the landed-cost board (Pakistan is live today; India, China and more are coming) and the Private Analyst desk. Coming next: market alerts, and ship, port and satellite tracking. Each one is labelled in your plan — we'd rather under-promise than show a feature that isn't ready.
How do I get help quickly?
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Message us on WhatsApp for a fast reply, or open a support request from your account or the Contact page. We answer in plain English — you are talking to the people who run the desk, not a call centre.
Why should I trust a new platform with my trading workflow?
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Rasad is conservative by design: licensed feeds where required, public source labels where applicable, no fake rows, and clear stale/offline states when an upstream feed is unavailable.