Core Technology

Technology plays a key role in ensuring the growth and reliability of financial markets. At NASDAQ OMX, we are committed to innovation through technology to provide the best possible trading experience for our customers and investors.

NASDAQ OMX is the world's number one provider of commercial exchange technology.  Our technology has a global footprint, supporting the operations of over 70 markets in more than 50 countries.  Our flexible, high performance technology supports the trading and clearing of multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange traded funds. 

Over one million messages per second at sub-80 microsecond average speeds

We continuously improve our core technology with a focus on reducing latency and improving capacity and reliability. NASDAQ OMX's next generation technology is capable of handling over 1 million messages per second at an average speed of sub-80 microseconds, the fastest of any exchange or alternative trading system in the world. 

As an example we have so far this year reduced latency by over 40% for The NASDAQ Stock Market, the world’s largest equity liquidity pool. During normal production traffic loads, using a 10 Gigabit Ethernet co-lo access, round trip order latency is now approximately 98 microseconds*.

We have recently announced a new cooperation between NASDAQ OMX and Correlix Inc., a leading provider of objective latency measurement solutions. All NASDAQ OMX latency statistics represent real performance numbers validated by Correlix latency measurement software.  NASDAQ OMX leads the industry in using objective third-party tools to provide our customers with real-time latency insight and analysis down to the individual transaction level, proving yet again that we offer the most innovative and transparent trading solutions.  Real-time latency measurement services will first be available for The NASDAQ Stock Market and will then be rolled out to other NASDAQ OMX markets worldwide.

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Latest U.S. performance statistics »

The most advanced trading technology in the world

Our latency statistics represent real production environment performance numbers validated by Correlix latency measurement RaceTeam Service.  NASDAQ OMX leads the industry in using objective third-party tools to provide our customers with real-time latency insight and analysis down to the individual transaction level, proving yet again that we offer the most innovative and transparent trading solutions.  Real-time latency measurement services are currently available for The NASDAQ Stock Market. 

Recognized as the most advanced trading technology in the world, INET is NASDAQ OMX's core technology used across NASDAQ OMX's U.S. and European markets.  Today it powers NASDAQ OMX's U.S. equities and options platforms including The NASDAQ Stock Market, NASDAQ OMX BX, NASDAQ OMX PHLX and The NASDAQ Options Market as well as NASDAQ OMX's Nordic and Baltic markets.

INET forms the core of our Genium INET offering, providing technology customers with the same speed, scale and reliability required to meet the specific needs of their markets. 

*Order Latency Measurements:

• The time it takes to accept, process, and acknowledge or fill an order.
• Measured as the complete round trip for an order or cancel transaction leaving a customer network port, passing through the co-lo network and application firewalls into the matching engine and back.
• Measured in the production environment during a full trading day including opening and close.