Nanex Research

Nanex ~ 16-Sep-2013 ~ Faster Than Light Technology

According to this sales sheet from Thomson Reuters, customers using their News Feed Direct product had a "2-second advance and the fastest delivery on the market" of the University of Michigan Surveys of Customers (Consumer Sentiment) on August 12, 2011. We looked at trading in SPY on August 12, 2011 around that time (9:54:58 EDT), and we have to agree on  their claim for fastest delivery. In fact, they must have invented technology to deliver information faster than light, because the market reacted a full 79 milliseconds before the scheduled 2-second advance release time of 9:54:58. Our hats off to them.


1. SPY - Trades color coded by reporting exchange. Showing 1 second of time.
Market reaction occurs 79 milliseconds ahead of time the expected 2-second early release. The scattering of trades is due to exchange networks being overwhelmed by the sudden explosion of trading. Most of the trades actually occurred within the first 100 milliseconds of 9:54:57.921 - but we'll never know, because consolidated feeds are timestamped in a way that hides any of these delays.

2. SPY - Best bids and asks color coded by exchange.
Maximum market mayhem produces significant NBBO crossing (best bid price > best ask price).


3. SPY - Trades color coded by reporting exchange. Showing about 5 seconds of time.
The move was pretty much over, well before the 2nd tier received the news at 9:55:00.


4. SPY - Trades color coded by reporting exchange. Showing 9:54:51 to 9:55:18.



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