Originally posted by PuffyGums
A direct line to the Merc is not included in the $400 fee.
Who said anything about a direct line? I said it was a VPN direct to the CME. With the data packets as small as they are, there is very little difference in transmission time between a VPN and dedicated T1 to the CME.
I trade from different locations and use both.
Also there is nothing preventing you from having a direct line to your own broker.
LOL - Nothing except your broker. Try asking, IB, Refco or whoever to allow you to establish a dedicated T1 or ISDN to their server - you may be surprised by their answer.
Even if they allowed it, it still involves extra hops and a journey through an extra system. Saying it ain't so won't make the extra hops or the extra system go away.
I don't know what you'd do with the extra 70 milliseconds, considering how deep the book for the eminis are.
It's true that there are times when there is little or no difference but I presume you've tested this by looking at Pats, TT, Future Dynamics alongside a Globex VPN - each on a T1 line, an ISDN, a dial- up and a VPN to be able to make such 'knowledgeable' statements as '70 milliseconds' - cos we tested them extensively and I've got news for you - it's nowhere near a 70 millisecond difference.
If you're a position trader or a 2/3 trades a day daytrader, then this is moot, you are unlikely to be affected and there is little to gained or lost from the platform you are using.
But to say that there is no difference is clearly an uninformed statement. Your conclusions are only assumptions which you believe to be fact. However, as you've never tested these different platforms side by side, how would you know whether or not there is any difference?
Trust me - before I give the CME $1,000 a month for our direct line or $400/month for VPN access, I made damn sure that
1. There was a difference.
2. That the difference is enough to have an impact on the way we trade.
Architecturally, what the CME offeres as a retail trading platform and what direct access brokers offer is the same thing.
How can they be the same when every other platform requires the additional step of being processed by an additional system BEFORE it gets to Globex? You don't get something for nothing - especially in I.T. It ain't just the extra length of path that makes the difference, it's the extra I/Os.[/B][/QUOTE]
There is no such thing as super direct access for the CMEs product and crappy access for everyone else.
Had you attended meetings between some screaming CSVs and the CME regarding the different data distributions they employ for different vendors, as I have, you might not feel so sure about that.
They all access the same set of APIs, they all validate customer orders and go through risk management the same way..
The orders that go via a broker's system is validated TWICE, they go through risk management TWICE and that involves additional I/O geting in and out of your broker's system - and don't forget the return journey.
As for APIs ????? They have nothing to do with it. They're just an interface, a mechanism to allow the data to be referenced within the system. They have nothing to do with how the CME distributes the data.
The CMEs platform does NOT cut out an extra hop, it does exactly what direct access brokers do, or what those boutique trading platforms do.
To say it is no more direct than going through a broker's machine first, is like saying that a direct flight from NY to Chicago is no more direct and no faster than going via Atlanta.
