futures
CME Fills: MDP 3.0 Trade Summary vs iLink private Fills latency It is commonly understood that CME private fill confirmations are delivered ahead of public market data. In this study, we set out to validate and quantify this assumption using real measurements. By matching market data events with corresponding
futures
CME Trades: Message Ordering and Latency Whenever a trade occurs on a CME matching engine, the exchange disseminates such information in a sequence of messages. A few important observations: 1. The exchange disseminates a Trade Summary Message first for any trade. 2. 85% of the time other updates, such as
futures
What Is CME iLink? CME iLink is the CME Group's official order entry protocol - used by trading systems to submit, modify, and cancel orders directly into the CME Globex matching engine. It forms the backbone of CME's direct market access (DMA) for futures and options
futures
What Is Order Book Imbalance? Order book imbalance is a key concept in market microstructure that helps traders interpret short-term supply and demand pressure in financial markets. It refers to the relative difference between the volume of buy orders (bids) and sell orders (asks) visible in the order book at
futures
What Is an Order Book? How It's Built and Why It Matters In financial markets, the order book is one of the most fundamental concepts. It's where buying and selling interest meets - and where price discovery begins. If you've ever placed a trade
futures
ETFs Are a Bad Replacement for Futures Exposure ETFs are marketed as convenient ways to gain access to commodities, rates, crypto, and volatility-but in many cases, they're inefficient, expensive, and poorly designed. Here's why serious traders and investors should avoid using ETFs as a proxy for
futures
Futures: Closer to Market Democracy Than Equities Equities may be marketed as the path for the everyday investor-but under the surface, they've become a maze of fragmented exchanges, slow public data feeds (SIP), and opaque order routing games stacked against retail. Futures, on the other hand, are often
futures
The Problem with SIP: How Regulation Reinforces an Unfair Market The SIP (Securities Information Processor) was created to ensure transparency and protect investors by consolidating quotes and trades from all U.S. equity exchanges into a single public feed. But in practice, it's now one of the biggest
lowlatency
Direct Market Access (DMA) 101 Direct Market Access (DMA) allows traders to send orders directly to an exchange without needing an intermediary broker to re-enter the order manually. It is essential for firms aiming for speed, control, and competitive advantage in modern markets. This guide covers what you need to