Colocating

I am planning on developing some automated trading strategies. One area i am grappling with is whether or not to colo. I fear latency may be an issue if I am running the decision making engine off my desktop. Do any of you colo? If yes, what are the pros and cons of doing it? What colo vendors cater to automated traders? Are there any particular software packages that colo better than others?

 

yo bro, colo is cool yay. "You fear latency is an issue". Did you just steal some strategy code that you know nothing about or why else would you not know whether your strategies are latency sensitive? Only you can answer that question. If you have not started developing then I recommend you to stay miles away from anything higher frequency. You do not sound like you have actually worked in this arena ever before. Look to test and develop ideas that are based on lower frequencies. This is the best advice you will ever get here. Trust me.

 

If you would like, send me an email directly explaining what you trade, a basic description of your strategy, how you expected to connect to the markets and any other information that might help me, help you. Then I'll give you a call to follow up. I will be able to guide you or point you in the direction of someone that can.

Bob

 

I would make a distinction between colocating for speed versus other solutions for high availability (HA). If you are trading high-frequency (trade completes within seconds), then speed is paramount and you want your trading computer to be located at the exchange (colo) or near the exchange (proximity hosting).

However, if you are trading in a higher time frames (minutes +), then modern internet connections should be sufficient. In this case, the concern is more about HA to ensure your computer is working (power, hardware reliability) and your internet connection is up. There are a myriad of solutions for HA.

 

You seem to be a tool of all trades lol. Do you also sell cars?

 

Not yet......

 

Www.speedytradingservers.com

 

I think every post planning do something never gets off the ground. Most (if not all) off the shelf software will get picked off

 

Thanks, this is precisely what i was looking for.

 

Doubt you need colocation for speed. Although I wouldn't count it out for reliability. I don't know about you, but my home internet and power go out occasionally. That is no fun when you are in a position that you'd normally be out of a few seconds or minutes later.