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World desk4 min

Debug Log #4: Build a Free Daily Market Risk Dashboard—and Fix the PowerShell curl Alias

A practical guide to a free Python and Streamlit market-risk dashboard, with clear limits for its estimates and the Windows PowerShell curl.exe workaround.
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You can build a useful free prototype that tracks portfolio performance, volatility, drawdown and loss estimates with Python and Streamlit. Treat its results as estimates, not audited risk figures. And if a command beginning with curl behaves strangely in Windows PowerShell 5.1, run curl.exe instead: PowerShell maps curl to a different command.

What a daily market risk dashboard should show

A risk dashboard is only as useful as its return series and labels. Make it clear which assets and weights are included, what benchmark is shown, and the dates covered. The public example uses Python and Streamlit to let a user enter tickers, dates, weights and a benchmark, then display performance and risk measures. It is an illustrative project description, not an independent validation of the calculations.

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Performance and volatility

Show portfolio and benchmark cumulative performance alongside daily returns. Include daily and annualized volatility, but document the return window and annualization convention used by your implementation; the example does not specify enough detail to prescribe one. Volatility describes variation in returns, not the direction or certainty of future moves.

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Drawdown

Maximum drawdown describes the largest peak-to-trough decline in the observed portfolio value series over the selected sample. State the sample window and calculation basis so a reader can distinguish a recent drawdown from one measured across a longer history.

VaR and Expected Shortfall

Value at Risk (VaR) estimates a loss threshold at a chosen confidence level and horizon. The example describes both historical VaR, derived from observed returns, and parametric VaR, which assumes a normal distribution. Expected Shortfall (ES), also called conditional VaR in some contexts, summarizes the average loss in the tail beyond the VaR threshold. These are different estimates; do not present an unlabeled number as a guaranteed maximum loss.

For each tail-risk figure, disclose the method, confidence level, time horizon and lookback window. The project description supports configurable confidence levels, but does not establish independent validation of its risk model. Its estimates depend on the chosen return data and assumptions.

Benchmark relationship and scenarios

A rolling correlation chart can show how the portfolio’s historical relationship with a selected benchmark changes over time. It is a backward-looking statistic, not a stable property of the assets.

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A one-day uniform price shock and a defined historical crisis window can help illustrate portfolio sensitivity. Label both as what-if calculations: a selected shock is an assumption, and a past crisis period is not a prediction of future losses.

How to assemble the prototype

The cited project describes a simple workflow using Python, pandas, NumPy, SciPy, yfinance and Streamlit. It suggests manual dependency installation; that description does not establish pinned versions or a reproducible environment.

  1. Choose the assets and benchmark. Record tickers, portfolio weights, date range and benchmark so the inputs behind each chart are visible.
  2. Retrieve historical prices. The example uses yfinance to obtain historical OHLCV price data from Yahoo Finance. This documents the example’s input method; it does not establish data licensing, guaranteed uptime, suitability for commercial use or an official Yahoo Finance API commitment.
  3. Calculate returns and portfolio results. Convert prices into daily returns, combine them using the portfolio weights, and calculate the summary and tail-risk measures. Document the weighting and return conventions you implement.
  4. Render the views in Streamlit. Present portfolio and benchmark curves, volatility, drawdown, VaR, ES, rolling correlation and clearly labeled stress illustrations. Put the relevant dates, method and assumptions beside each measure rather than hiding them in a chart tooltip.

Free data still comes with conditions

“Free” describes the cost of access, not necessarily the rights or reliability needed for a particular use. Check a provider’s current terms, coverage, attribution rules, quotas and data quality before relying on it.

As one provider-published option, XOOMAR says it offers 31 datasets in JSON and mostly also CSV, with access available without a key. Its page, checked on 2026-10-04, states a limit of 10 requests per minute per IP without a key and 30 requests per minute with a free account key, plus at least six months of history. Listed categories include SEC filings and ownership, short-interest and FINRA data, macroeconomic and rates data, positioning and flows, crypto derivatives, and government data. These are the provider’s claims, not an independent audit; verify current availability and terms before building a dependency around them. See XOOMAR’s data page.

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For context, the Federal Reserve describes FR VV-1 as a supervisory reporting regime for covered trading desks that collects daily risk, performance and customer-facing activity data, including VaR and profit-and-loss attribution. It is not a template that a personal dashboard automatically needs to follow. The Federal Reserve page reports that its current form applies to covered firms and was last updated on 2024-01-02: Federal Reserve supervisory letter.

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Why curl behaves differently in Windows PowerShell

In Windows PowerShell 5.1, curl is a built-in alias for Invoke-WebRequest. The alias takes PowerShell parameters and shadows the separate curl executable, so a command copied from a curl example may fail or behave differently. Microsoft documents this version-specific behavior in its curl on Windows guidance.

Call the executable explicitly

Use curl.exe to bypass the alias and invoke the curl program:

curl.exe -X GET "https://example.com/api"

For a file download, Microsoft gives this example:

curl.exe -O https://example.com/file.zip

Remove the alias for the current session

If you want curl to stop resolving to the alias in the current PowerShell session, run:

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Remove-Item Alias:curl

This removes the alias from that session; using curl.exe is the explicit choice when you need the executable. PowerShell 7 and later do not define this alias by default, so do not assume every Windows shell has the same behavior.

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