BATS Trading Inc., operator of the fast-growing US equities platform which plans to operate in Europe in 2008, said Tuesday that it has reduced latency through the entire BATS system to between 400 and 500 microseconds, with 80% of orders being acknowledged within 400 microseconds.
BATS defines latency as the time it takes to accept, process, and acknowledge a subscriber order.
“Statistics collected on Friday April 11th showed a greater than 200 microsecond reduction in latency in production from a month ago, measured from outside the firewall,” said BATS Chief Executive Joe Ratterman. “I applaud Chris Isaacson and our technology team for this tremendous accomplishment that directly benefits our subscribers.
“As we seek Exchange status and target 15% matched market share in the US, we will continue to enhance the BATS system to make markets better in terms of system performance and platform functionality,” Mr. Ratterman said.
Mr. Isaacson, senior vice president and chief operating officer at BATS, continued, “Most importantly, these performance metrics apply during everyday market conditions, and our subscribers validate that, under heavy market conditions, the BATS platform maintains its high-performance/low-latency metrics.
“Continuing to build a faster, more efficient market is a passion at BATS and we welcome feedback on this performance enhancement. As always, we thank our customers and our investors for their continued support,” Mr. Isaacson said.
Earlier this week, BATS announced that it selected a Savvis data center in London, where BATS will be co-located with numerous other trading firms and market centers. Firms interested in linking to the planned high-speed, low-latency BATS platform in Europe should contact Ken Conklin, senior vice president in charge of business development for BATS Trading. Firms interested in connecting in the US should contact Jon Schneider, BATS sales manager, or Randy Williams, vice president of sales and communications.
