CppCon 2017: Carl Cook “When a Microsecond Is an Eternity: High Performance Trading Systems in C++”

What people said

benreesman · 2025-08 · Recommendation

Doesn't the fact that a modern FPGA-centric (probably ASICs in the mix too at this point) hybrid NIC/order-parser/state-machine thing is rumored to be able to hit glass-to-glass of ~20-40ns mean that the speed game is hotter than ever? Do you mean that because it involves a lot of hardware design now? The days of being able to offer around the inside in C++ on a regulated securities exchange are over, but there's still C++ driving the thing, that 20ns "tick to trade" or however it's being measured in some instance is still pretty basic response stuff, light speed is still a thing. There's a C++ program upstairs running the show, and it's trying to do it's job in under a mike for sure. The OG talk on this is Carl Cook's: [VIDEO] But there are more recent talks (Optiver is especially transparent about it but other people talk about it too): [LINK] , that's David Gross at CppCon last year, it can't have changed that much since last year.

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vgatherps · 2023-09 · Recommendation

This is almost certainly incorrect, unless it’s using a very stretched definition of “hft” and using microseconds to mean 99th% <1ms instead of say <5us (reasonably competitive software range depending on your trade). They might be forwarding non latency sensitive client/internal orders through a system written in erlang, or using erlang for an orchestration layer, but they’re not competing with other hft traders in one. Source: I work in the field and have built <5us systems. [VIDEO] Is a free great watch about the things you have to do to very reliably have such low latencies

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benreesman · 2022-08 · Recommendation

I find this stuff fascinating, and this article is way above average for online posts about proprietary/algorithmic/quantitative/low-latency trading (very leaky Venn diagram there). I have a few nitpicks but overall it's informative and it's an interesting format: viewing an industry through the lens of a particular firm, especially one as fascinating as Jane. Anything that develops literacy in modern finance amongst the lay public is a good thing in my book. If this stuff floats your boat I'd also recommend any of Carl Cook's talks, e.g. [VIDEO] . Optiver is AFAIK in a somewhat different business than Jane, but they're also players (or were last I had any inside baseball). Too many people got their worldview on this industry from "Flash Boys", and I say this as a Lewis fan, is criminally stupid at best and in bad faith at worst (if you want a well-researched, accessible alternative: [LINK] is about a zillion times better). It's a pretty short list of places I'd ever go through some grueling and semi-arbitrary gauntlet to work for, but Jane is on it for sure. I hope the author(s) do Medallion next.

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