Hi HN,
I’m sharing a research-focused ultra-low-latency trading system I’ve been working on to explore how far software and systems-level optimizations can push decision latency on commodity hardware.
What this is
A research and learning framework, not a production or exchange-connected trading system
Designed to study nanosecond-scale decision pipelines, not profitability
Key technical points
~890ns end-to-end decision latency (packet → decision) in controlled benchmarks
Custom NIC driver work (kernel bypass / zero-copy paths)
Lock-free, cache-aligned data structures
CPU pinning, NUMA-aware memory layout, huge pages
Deterministic fast path with branch-minimized logic
Written with an emphasis on measurability and reproducibility
What it does not do
No live exchange connectivity
No order routing, risk checks, or compliance layers
Not intended for real trading or commercial use
Why open-source
The goal is educational: to document and share systems optimization techniques (networking, memory, scheduling) that are usually discussed abstractly but rarely shown end-to-end in a small, inspectable codebase.
Hardware
Runs on standard x86 servers
Specialized NICs improve results but are not strictly required for experimentation
I’m posting this primarily for technical feedback and discussion:
Benchmarking methodology
Where latency numbers can be misleading
What optimizations matter vs. don’t at sub-microsecond scales
I’m sharing a research-focused ultra-low-latency trading system I’ve been working on to explore how far software and systems-level optimizations can push decision latency on commodity hardware.
What this is
A research and learning framework, not a production or exchange-connected trading system
Designed to study nanosecond-scale decision pipelines, not profitability
Key technical points
~890ns end-to-end decision latency (packet → decision) in controlled benchmarks
Custom NIC driver work (kernel bypass / zero-copy paths)
Lock-free, cache-aligned data structures
CPU pinning, NUMA-aware memory layout, huge pages
Deterministic fast path with branch-minimized logic
Written with an emphasis on measurability and reproducibility
What it does not do
No live exchange connectivity
No order routing, risk checks, or compliance layers
Not intended for real trading or commercial use
Why open-source The goal is educational: to document and share systems optimization techniques (networking, memory, scheduling) that are usually discussed abstractly but rarely shown end-to-end in a small, inspectable codebase.
Hardware
Runs on standard x86 servers
Specialized NICs improve results but are not strictly required for experimentation
I’m posting this primarily for technical feedback and discussion:
Benchmarking methodology
Where latency numbers can be misleading
What optimizations matter vs. don’t at sub-microsecond scales