Arca Fix Lousy Execution Speeds

H

hmap1

I want to start this thread to see if anyone has had problems with ARCA on the FIX side of execution. Basically to sum it up: They are the slowest of all ECNs. Their technology is through Townsend Analytics and all it has caused is grief for us. My fear is that with this integration with REDI systems, that the integration of the two ECN's will be used on ARCA technology. If that is the case and the executions are as slow as they are now (1 second and over), I will have to change my business models and go somewhere else. Anyone else feel like I do?
 
Originally posted by hmap1
I want to start this thread to see if anyone has had problems with ARCA on the FIX side of execution.
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Not sure what you mean by FIX? I've found ARCA's routing to be extrememly fast, executions in well under a second. And far superior to Cybercorp's cyberXchange which I used for over a year. Currently I mostly trade direct on ISLD but have no hesitation in trading Nasdaq stocks via ARCA. For listed, however, I wouldn't think of using ARCA, there are much better avenues.
 
You can ask anyone on the street. Do an analysis and look at the execution FIX logs for the time stamps. ARCA is the SLOWEST of all ECNs. The averge trader will not experience this, but FIX customers will. I wish they were up to speed with Island executions because I would give them more order flow. I am not trying to put down the ECN, just want the problem resolved. Trust me, it's not just me that is having this issue. It's street wide.
 
in my experience, ARCA is way way way slower than island. it's still pretty fast, but i've always wondered why it couldn't be faster. thru IB, ARCA is still faster than BTRD or BRUT, but not as fast as REDI. ISLD is the fastest.

hehe - OK - SAT question - which ECN out of the ones above is the 2nd fastest? winner gets a burnt weeny sandwich...
 
I agree that ARCA is the slowest ECN on the street. I work in a stat-arb shop that employs computer-to-computer trading systems(note-no human traders). We continuously monitor the execution speed of all of the ECNs we connect to. The results when hitting an existing order on their books are as follows;

ISLD 60 to 90 milliseconds
REDI 180 to 300 milliseconds
*BRUT 200 to 300 milliseconds (see note)
ARCA 800 to 1200 milliseconds
INCA 600 to 800 milliseconds

(note - BRUT has problems with the quotes they publish and sometimes they cannot be executed.)

The speed issue may not be significant for manual day trading, but when you are relying on existing liquidity being there for a fast moving trading system, it is vitally important. We have tried to tune our systems to the reliability of the ECNs, therefore ARCA tends to get less of my business. Hopefully, during the merger, ARCA will use the REDI technology to improve their platform instead of destroying the performance of the REDI system.
 
It must be an IB issue, because in FIX execution, BRUT is much faster than ARCA. It's one of the closest to ISLD.
 
Does anyone have any idea about what the Stupor montage expects to have for execution speeds.

Do we know if this is just going to be another op for the market makers to front run peoples orders or is this going to have any real value.
 
hmap1,

Again I ask you as I asked you in my first post, what does the acronym FIX stand for? Thanks.
 
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