Low-latency networking specialist McKay Brothers has deployed its latest wireless network connecting key equity exchanges in New Jersey, USA, and Markham, Ontario, Canada, offering the lowest known latency for private bandwidth between the two centres. The network connects the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Mahwah, New Jersey, and TMX Group’s exchanges in Markham, with a one-way latency of less than 1.754 milliseconds.
The proposition is particularly compelling for market makers of cross-listed securities, says McKay co-founder Bob Meade, in conversation with TradingTech Insight. “There’s interest in ADRs, CDRs, and cross-listed stocks, as well as interest in ETFs,” he says. “Of course, as a network service provider, we don’t know what proportion of the bandwidth is being used for specific trading activities, whether stocks or ETFs. But it certainly seems that there’s interest in both, and demand is pretty evenly split between Canadian-domiciled banks and US market makers.”
The new network is a continuation of McKay’s commitment to enhancing Canadian market services, evidenced by their March launch of a similar low-latency service from the CME in Aurora, Illinois, to TMX in Markham.
Since 2012, McKay Brothers has been dedicated to transforming the market for low-latency telecom services in financial trading, with networks operational across North America, Europe, and Asia. The company’s expansion into transpacific connectivity was marked by a network established last year, linking the CME with major trading hubs in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
McKay’s sister company, Quincy Data, plans to offer a market data service between the two locations in the near future. “We started with the bandwidth product, but we’re going to add market data products probably in the next couple of months,” says Meade, adding that Quincy Data has been providing the fastest market data service from CME to TMX via its QED platform since 2022.
In terms of future plans, Meade says that the company takes a somewhat practical approach to building its low latency routes. “It often comes down to crew availability,” he says. “We build all these networks, we hire crews. And there are always interesting lower-volume routes that are on the list of things we’d like to do when we have time and when the crews are finished with the other stuff.”
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