Come on, these guys don't know what they are talking about. Who cares that SIP re-timestamps? Nobody...
I'm not sure that i see anything has changed (since before physical exchanges went digital). Co-Located HFT's and algos are the new "locals". To be a local you had to buy a seat ($$$) and get "direct access" to the floor. Try to jump ahead of big orders as they came in before retail traders come in to give you an out. All that time phoning your order to the floor and having it flashed in the pit was pure profit for the locals - unless you had your own guy down there with a squawk box add day long (again $$$). Today co-location is the barrier to entry just like buying a seat. Either way, if you are retail and not paying up to co-locate, nothing has changed. You are the stooge in that microsecond game. But you are welcome to not be if you have the capital. The only thing that has changed was that it used to be a delay of seconds and now it is nanoseconds. When i was at the CBOT with their direct in-house data feed on the TV, it was still seconds behind the floor. You had to call the floor to get the fresh bid/offer. The edge on the floor was never compromised. Is it any different than any other industry with financial barriers to entry? Heck, if you want to open s simple freight trucking brokerage out of your bedroom you still need to post $75-100k surety bond as evidence of financial responsibility, that you have access liquidity to meet your obligations and pay potential claims. Seems like today everyone wants something for free, and life is about fairness. Could this be the result of banning dodgeball?
You make a great point. I just have one small critique. The game will never be equitable and I've accepted it (after going through the Kubler Ross stages multiple times). However, leveling the playing field by reducing infrastructure costs can improve the long term health of the market. A diverse pool of liquidity providers with different time frames can only improve the resilience of the market ecosystem. How many mini flash crashes happen in a single trading day in equities compared to futures? What is the long term profitability of an HFT operation in equities compared to futures when infrastructure costs are accounted for? The futures model is better in the long run. Just a punter's 0.002.
That would be great! Would it would win business back from the dark pools? ... Or would it hit EPS too hard given all the heavy spending they have been making on technology (and acquisitions for tech). Tech spending prob not slowing down anytime soon - i think that is an understatement. The board has a duty to its shareholders... a whole other debate. I think exchanges see their direct datafeeds like Apple and priced accordingly, the SIP is Xiaomi. Customers get to choose - cheap with a high tax or expensive with no tax. So the exchanges know their direct access is premium vs the sip so why cut price? They are a profit oriented business. Of course, i would prefer an iPhone 7 for the price of a Xiaomi....
mkk Rithmic offers a higher end API which might allow you to do this. Supposedly it can get below 25 microseconds latency. Not sure if even that is fast enough these days.
I've demoed Rithmics basic API in the past, but just to collect market data. I really like their API and they're an exceptional value. I'm in somewhat of limbo w/r/t live trading right now. I'm nowhere near ready or appropriately capitalized because school is rightfully taking a lot of my time away and my employer this summer has stipulated I disclose all my accounts and don't trade at all for my time with them, so I really don't see an opportunity to aggressively pursue this opening up any time soon unfortunately. I think what they can teach me and the necessity of working to earn money and build my resume outweigh my desire to trade. I'm still toying around quite a bit though. Maybe down the road a bit. Appreciate the suggestion.
How does one get a Rithmic API demo? I can download the software, but I don't even see a phone contact on their website?