Slowness can come from different places. Not just from the ISP or the exchange. If we look closely at this: Order is sent from client (A) using ISP (B) to a broker (C) to an exchange (D). The fill is sent back from the exchange (D) to the broker (C) to the client (A) using ISP (B). Each hop is adding a delay in the round-trip response time. The only way to know where is the slower link is to compare with someone else average response time: 1) [Different Computer] + [Same ISP] + [Same Broker] + [Same Exchange] 2) [Different Computer] + [Different ISP] + [Same Broker] + [Same Exchange] 3) [Different Computer] + [Same ISP] + [Different Broker] + [Same Exchange] Both traders must be located near each other to remove the latency effect (although it coule be easily extrapolated). The market place or exchange needs to stay the same if you want to compare apple with apple. Of course, this above example is for retail traders only, using their own computers and using the Internet to trade.
rb7. I have clients in Russia and they are not getting 4 second execution for DMA orders. Much less. Low enough to not complain and they are automated traders.
I agree with you Rob. 4 seconds is an eternity in our world. If an order is immediately executable, it should take way less. Today, exchanges are expressing their response time in microseconds. My point is, if a trader is keeping his position 2-3 days on average, how a difference of 3-4 seconds can hurt him?
It matters because you decided to exit at that point when the stock was trading at that price. If you order is being held and you do not care, well that can cost more than the fees charged.
been busy....sorry. i do some scalping....thats why the issue. i'm not at home at the moment. still east coast though . order is going from va. to cali to chicago then back. thats probably the issue. or a combination of things. when I get home in a month....different ballgame. 5years ago when I was active doing this I was getting 1-1.5 second executions using nt7. I think its going to end up a platform/ routing issue. thanks for the input from all. 3-4 seconds scalping is nuts.
I don't know how can you continue to do scalping with 3-4 secs response time without losing money. And VA to CA to IL, and back, that ain't sum-up to 3-4 secs. Can't help you more cause we still don't know much about your setup.
And it is exactly where is the heart of our problem - UBS Bahamas not only refused to give us electronic access but even promised 20 seconds were grown up to 25 minutes! Trading intraday high-volume ETFs! So, your situation is not that bad, and I would agree with the post #9 by RB7.
first thing i see wrong is wifi i have all fiber direct att enterprise account my ip starts with 12.xx.xxx.x which means i am on the backbone. i have sfp fiber handoff to router and sfp fiber going out to my trading computer.which my algo's are running on fpga cards. this all accounts for fewer hops, faster pings, no traffic as i am alone to the oc192. cost 2500 a month for a 1 gig trunk. so how serious are you to fix your latency problem. ssd drives, ram, processors all have an effect and you must lose the wifi for sure. other than this rent a office in the cme building and run a fiber up the elevator shaft from a members server, you will beat the street by 3 seconds i promise.