Demystifying Direct Feeds

摘要

Once upon a time, market data was simple. You bought data from an aggregator such as Reuters, Bloomberg or Thomson, and you accessed it through a feed or terminal. You paid a fee and you received clean, fast and reliable data. With the advent of electronic trading, direct market access and algorithms, however, fast no longer is good enough. Firms need blazing fast — no, strike that — they need faster than light-speed fast.