Tech Performance: The Ultimate Financial Currency
In the highly competitive trading environment, instant access to market information is the ultimate end game.
Proof of this can be seen in the industry backlash the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is facing for installing antennas on the roof of its New Jersey data center. As Marketplace’s Sabri Ben-Achour wrote, “According to critics, these antennas would transmit trades and other market information faster than those currently used by private firms. Those firms are afraid that the NYSE will charge high fees for use of the faster antennas—and that one company could get the exclusive right to use them, thereby limiting competition.”
The amount of time at stake? Two-millionths of a second.
While the Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to comment on the NYSE’s plans and whether they amount to an anti-competitive action, the move underscores just how much modern markets depend on access to and analysis of thousands of data points. In this environment, it’s equally critical that technology function optimally, keep up with performance peaks and render correctly on every platform.
After all, what’s the good in receiving data two-millionths of a second faster than your competitors if your software crashes?
With huge sums of money at stake for every instant of downtime, technology failure is a catastrophic mistake no firm can afford to make. Any number of factors could lead to a software outage, ranging from routine issues like system upgrades, network problems and bugs to broader performance problems stemming from an inability to handle spikes in trading and market data around key events like non-farm payrolls and Central Bank Rate decisions.
As such, it’s imperative that all trading firms deploy intelligent, continuous test automation not only in the development phase but also once technology is live to ensure they stay ahead of any issues that could impact performance. Eggplant’s Digital Automation Intelligence (DAI) Suite provides these critical benefits without impacting the pace of software delivery—a crucial element given the industry’s need for speed. In addition, our device-agnostic approach to testing allows firms to test performance across a variety of platforms and operating systems without creating any additional work for testing teams.
Learn more about these and other benefits and how Eggplant can prepare your technology for the high performance demands of high-frequency trading.