Fed ramps up our message volume

By: Ray Pellecchia

File Under: NYSE

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This afternoon's Fed announcement triggered a surge in messages coursing through our trading-support systems, setting nine new records, some of which had been standing since January (ancient history these days!). No system problems were reported.

For you techphiles out there, here are the new records. Note, I edited out a couple of them to eliminate the duplication of multiple records set by a single system over the course of a minute or two.

CQS (Consolidated Quote System) 5 min throughput record of 34856.8 messages per second established at 14:19:00. Replaces previous record of 31652.1 messages per second established on 03/18/2008 at 14:13-14:17.

CQS 1 min throughput record of 36345.5 messages per second established at 14:16:00. Replaces previous record of 34998.2 messages per second established on 03/18/2008 at 14:14.

CQS 30 sec throughput record of 37592.3 messages per second established at 14:15:30. Replaces previous record of 36497.1 messages per second established on 03/18/2008.

CTS (Consolidated Tape System) 5 min throughput record of 3024.3 messages per second established at 14:19:00. Replaces previous record of 2808.0 messages per second established on 03/14/2008 at 10:00-10:04.

CTS 30 sec throughput record of 3931.7 messages per second established at 14:15:30. Replaces previous record of 3808.6 messages per second established on 03/11/2008 at 15:59:00.

IGS (Information Generation System) 1 min throughput record of 30016.1 messages per second established at 14:16:00. Replaces previous record of 27987.9 messages per second established on 01/31/2008 at 15:57.

CQS 1 min throughput record of 34998.2 messages per second established at 14:15:00. Replaces previous record of 31755.9 messages per second established on 02/25/2008 at 14:25.

I've mentioned here previously, the capacity to accommodate these spikes in message traffic requires a lot of planning and investment on our part. It's largely unseen part of the exchange business, and I'm glad (and relieved!) when it bears fruit as it did today.