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How to Use FTP to Access EDGAR

4,188 views · Published 2 August 2010 · 1:53 · Indexed 28 September 2026

Channel: Howcast · 2010 · Science & Technology

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If you want to download corporate filings information in bulk, learn how to use file transfer protocol, or FTP, to access EDGAR, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's online database.

Step 1: Download FTP software
Download free or trial versions of FTP software, if you don't already have it, from a reputable technology website.

Step 2: Find the date of a company's filing
Find the date of a company's filing by doing a search via EDGAR's online database. You can search by company name or Central Index Key or CIK number.

Step 3: Open the FTP software
Open the FTP software and connect to ftp.sec.gov, EDGAR's FTP server. Log in as "anonymous." Enter your e-mail address as your password.

Tip
The SEC recommends that larger FTP information file transfers occur between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Eastern time.

Step 4: Find the company's filing date
Find the company's filing date within a time period in the EDGAR FTP server's "daily index" files or "full-index" files.

Step 5: Download the corporate filing information
Download the corporate filing information made during the time period when your targeted company or companies filed with EDGAR.

Tip
EDGAR has a concurrent limit of 30 connections for FTP retrievals.

Step 6: Extract or unzip the compressed files
Extract or unzip the compressed files using decompression software. Files are in .zip format for PC and .sit format for Mac.

Did You Know?
The first written complaint to the SEC regarding Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernard Madoff was made as early as 1999.

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