Eurex Exchange is now operating entirely on Deutsche Börse Group’s global trading architecture.
The fixed income derivatives segment, including highly liquid Euro-Bund, Euro-Bobl and Euro-Schatz futures, was the last to migrate from the previously used system.
The new platform meets the needs of Eurex Exchange participants in terms of enhanced performance, efficiency and capacity, more connection options and improved functionality, while maintaining the high stability and availability that traders are used to. This technology has already been successfully used since April 2011 by the International Securities Exchange (ISE), the US options venue and Eurex Exchange’s partner exchange.
When it comes to latency, major improvements are already measurable: the round-trip time for the fastest futures order was around one millisecond in the old system; now it is just 150 microseconds approximately. The average latency for the system as a whole has been reduced by more than 50 per cent for futures and more than 90 per cent for options.
The migration began on 3 December 2012. A first software release will follow in July 2013, which will reduce latency further. Optimising internal processing of orders will lead to a considerably higher system capacity and more frequent supply of market data. A further release is planned for the end of 2013, which will introduce new functionalities for new product types and a new market data interface for benchmark futures – the Eurex Enhanced Order Book Interface.
“With the introduction of the new trading architecture, Eurex proves again its position as an innovative exchange. Part of their success is the open communication with their members and providing a transparent system. The new matching engine brings capacity without compromising on the importance of safety in a trading environment. This combined will enable market makers like Optiver to continue posting tighter spreads for end investors to trade,” says Hans Pieterse, head of market structure Europe, Optiver.
“We thank our participants for their constructive cooperation in the stepwise smooth migration. Our new world-class system gives participants access to our liquid and global markets with well-known competitive advantages in terms of enhanced functionality, stability, latency and performance. With the final migration step, Eurex Group once again provides innovative IT solutions on a global scale,” says Jürg Spillmann, deputy chief executive at Eurex.
The global trading architecture offers more flexibility, which will also enable faster time-to-market implementation in the future. The messaging architecture provides lower latency and faster communication and is based on reliable database systems. Eurex Exchange participants also benefit from improved functionality including a comprehensive spread matrix, which offers 190 calendar spreads for Euribor futures and user-defined options strategies.
