Tim, if they are putting up microwave towers to avoid the latency of going through fiber, 10 microseconds is probably really, really significant. You still don't grasp the CPU power available.
My point has little to do with the CPU power. (Although that's a potential lesser issue as well, the computer has to bring in the data, analyze it, find a trading opportunity, and send the order to execute the trade, its not just an issue of how quickly the computer can execute one instruction.)
Once the computer sends out the execute order, its go to travel through the computer, through the local network, to the transmitting tower (if their avoiding fiber), across the small distance to the exchange, and through the exchanges network.
And of course it has to be processed at the exchange.
I know it all happens really quickly but there is no way that total is in the nanosecond range, and I very much doubt it happens even in a single microsecond. |
