The Liquidity Bridge and the Olympic Standard

Author: Meriam

Every four years, the world comes together to celebrate the world’s best athletes during the Olympic Games. In the world of finance, a similar performance happens daily on the liquidity bridge and brokers' side, ensuring the smooth flow of capital and the best execution for traders.

The Sprinter: Speed of Execution 

In the financial markets, speed is critical. Liquidity bridges ensure rapid and accurate trade execution, much like sprinters who must react quickly and finish strong. For sprinters like Usain Bolt, every millisecond counts, and their training is focused on achieving maximum speed and efficiency. This is the same for brokers and high-frequency firms who must execute trades at lightning speed to capitalise on market opportunities, reflecting the agility of Olympic sprinters.

For instance, we found impressive results when testing the Trade Processor’s processing performance of trade requests with the server having a network distance to LP of less than 1 ms.

• MetaTrader 5: Up to 450 orders per second for 8 hours, with a peak capacity of 750 orders per second for 5 minutes.
• MetaTrader 4: Up to 25 orders per second, limited by the MT4 performance.
• FIX API: Up to 250 orders per second in a single FIX session, and up to a total of 450 orders per second for the platform.

As for the execution time per request, which is critical:

• MetaTrader 5: Single order ~2-5 ms
• MetaTrader 4: Single order ~20-25 ms
• FIX API: Single order ~1-5 ms

The Gymnasts: Financial Precision with Endurance

Both trade processors and athletes require sophisticated risk management strategies. In trading, this involves advanced analytics and automated systems to manage risk. For athletes, it means strategic training and careful planning to avoid setbacks. Olympic gymnasts like Simone Biles perform routines with flawless precision, executing manoeuvres with millimetre accuracy to achieve scores above 15.0. 

Likewise, the precision in trade execution and quote processing is key for trade processors, which can process quotes for 2500 symbols at one book per second without performance loss, and up to 5000 symbols at two books per second with some decrease in execution speed. Both fields require rigorous testing and continuous monitoring for peak performance.

The Decathlon: Versatility with Risk Management

Olympic decathletes showcase versatility and endurance, excelling in multiple disciplines. These decathletes adapt and learn different techniques and strategies to face a variety of challenges and competitors. They manage the risk of injury through proper conditioning and strategic training plans. Similarly, brokers need the endurance to navigate volatile markets, providing continuous support and execution for their clients. Their ability to perform under pressure and across diverse scenarios is crucial for maintaining market stability.

For this purpose, liquidity bridges must handle various financial instruments and markets. For example, Trade Processor offers a connection to over 100 liquidity providers in the market and gives the brokers the option to aggregate the pricing between different pools for the best price execution and feeding.Brokers need the endurance to navigate volatile markets, providing continuous support and execution to their clients.

Besides MT4, MT5 and FIX API platforms, 7 other platforms have been integrated with our bridge such as the Dev Expert Platform, Neo Trader, Unity, Maxi Market Platform, Vertex, cTrader and Match-Trader.

Final thoughts

Just as the Olympic Games inspire with a display of exceptional human potential, the world of finance relies on the remarkable capabilities of liquidity bridges and brokers. Their synchronisation, speed, precision, and versatility ensure a smooth operation that mirrors the excellence of Olympic athletes.