Exchange Connectivity

Direct answer

Exchange connectivity links a participant’s systems to a trading venue or exchange through a precise physical and logical path, often involving colocation, cross connects, dedicated circuits and market-data services.

Confirm the access model

Determine whether the venue supports colocation, cross connect, approved network providers, cloud access or Internet-based sessions, and which options the participant is eligible to use.

Match the venue to the facility

For U.S. equities, the destination may be NYSE’s Mahwah data center, Nasdaq’s Carteret NY11 site, Equinix NY4 or NY5 in Secaucus, or another site such as NY6 for TXSE. NY4 includes MEMX and MIAX Pearl Equities; NY5 includes Cboe equities and an IEX access point. IEX’s matching engine is in Weehawken, so specify whether the request is for venue access or physical engine proximity. Review the NJ facilities →

Treat the cross connect as part of the route

The in-building path, meet-me room, carrier handoff and customer equipment affect installation and performance. Coordinate facility and network work as one delivery plan.

Plan market data and order entry separately

Market-data and order traffic may have different direction, capacity, protocol and redundancy requirements. Define each service explicitly rather than assuming one design fits both.