Quote from CPTrader:
lrm & scoobyStoo, can you please indicate how much you pay at Steadfast.
$200 per month
Quote from CPTrader:
I guess my first question is what services are you using: renting a 1U rack and bringing your own server or using one of their dedicated servers?
If I was local I'd just rent the rack space and put my own box in but since I'm based in London I went for a dedicated Win2003 box with their basic management services.
Quote from CPTrader:
In general what server specs do you think one needs for an ATS that does not need extreme low latency but for one that wants to ensure that the server is never ever under resource pressure.
Forget about latency. You aren't playing in the microsecond HFT space so the latency for any box located in 350 E. Cermack will be negligible.
Server spec depends entirely on your strategy implemention.
Personally, I run a custom multithreaded .NET app which does a fair amount of number crunching on the arrival of every incoming market data message (both transaction and order book).
My Steadfast box is just a standard spec quad core machine with 4GB of RAM. In normal market conditions I am able to process a market data message, submit an order and get the fill report from the exchange in under 10ms. 10 years ago this would have been considered supercomputer performance and now it's available for $200 a month!
In abnormal market conditions all bets are off. Fire 10,000 messages a sec at your app for a prolonged period and see if the lag is acceptable.
Quote from CPTrader:
Also what kind of dedicated Internet bandwith do you need/use?
Because these guys primarily supply people running server apps they price their bandwidth in a way which is advantageous for people like us running client apps.
Inbound - Unlimited (Great, means I can chew up unfiltered market data without worrying about busting traffic limits)
Outbound - 2000GB (I never make even the slightest dent in this)