Choosing FX Arbitrage Software: APIs, Connectivity, and Speed
Summary
The discussion considers software requirements for currency arbitrage, including fast market-data updates, processing many combinations, exchange connectivity, account support, and algorithm scripting. The replies caution that FX markets are not generally organized as centrally cleared exchanges, so a trader should first identify the venues and trading arrangements involved. This affects which connectivity and account features are relevant.
The answers note that JSON feeds may not match the interfaces commonly offered by markets, which often use FIX or venue-specific binary APIs. They also question whether raw computation speed is the main constraint and point to institutional trading platforms and a FIX API as possible examples. The exchange-specific details are limited, and the replies do not compare products, provide benchmarks, or explain how to detect and execute arbitrage after fees, latency, and liquidity are considered. Treat the platform mentions as suggestions from the discussion rather than a general evaluation.
Key ideas
- Identify the FX venues and trading arrangements before choosing software, since FX is not generally traded on centrally cleared exchanges.
- Market connectivity may use FIX or venue-specific binary APIs rather than JSON feeds.
- The discussion cautions that computation speed may be less important than the questioner assumes.
- Platform and API names are examples, not a comparative assessment of suitability or performance.
Tags
Full text
# What software should I use for forex arbitrage? # What software should I use for forex arbitrage? These are my requirements: - Speed of lookup & update - Speed of crunching large numbers and combinations - The exchanges I want to connect to will mostly provide json feeds to their orderbooks & fees. - I don't need to use charts too much, so to increase speed, I'd rather use an app that doesn't rely on charts. If it's fast and has charts, that's great. - Ability to set up accounts for exchanges that support it, or ability to create custom accounts for unsupported exchanges - ability to script my algorithm What are the software out there I can use for forex currency pairs arbitrage trading? Let me know if more information is needed thanks. ## Answer by madilyn (score 2) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/14528 > The exchanges I want to connect to will mostly provide json feeds to their orderbooks & fees. Not so sure if you'll find anything designed for JSON feeds, most markets use FIX or a native binary API. > Speed of lookup & update Speed of crunching large numbers and combinations I don't need to use charts too much, so to increase speed, I'd rather use an app that doesn't rely on charts. If it's fast and has charts, that's great. You're over-emphasizing the need for speed here, to be honest. > Ability to set up accounts for exchanges that support it, or ability to create custom accounts for unsupported exchanges FX doesn't trade in centrally-cleared exchanges, what are the markets that you're planning to trade in? But to name a few platforms that are commonly used, SR Labs and Bloomberg RTS will fit your needs for the most part. ## Answer by rupweb (score 1) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/14537 You want something like the Gain GTX FIX API
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