5 ms·
Why aren't HFT firms using short wave radio (DXing)? I suppose low-orbit satellite-to-satellite would probably beat fibre for anything over ~4000km too.
by mkj 9y ago
Why aren't HFT firms using short wave radio (DXing)?
I suppose low-orbit satellite-to-satellite would probably beat fibre for anything over ~4000km too.
- mirimir 9y agoOne reason may be that the FCC is touchy about encryption.
- wmf 9y agoThe throughput probably isn't high enough.
- p1mrx 9y agoMaybe the throughput could be increased using a bunch of MIMO antennas?
- jlgaddis 9y agoNo, the throughput available at these frequencies is measured in bits per second.
- p1mrx 9y agoPSK31 is 31 bps, but that's with ~100 Hz between channels. DXing is common in the 14 MHz band, so you could probably get to the megabits-per-second range before Physics (or the FCC) stops you.
- rdtsc 9y agoThat's an interesting one. Maybe complicating instructions might take too long to encode, but making it a simple buy/sell trigger for one particular security could work? But also going over too long a distance means the stock markets are closed in that part of the world. There is also a satellite company LeoSat that was trying to build a low latency long distance network of low flying satellites with laser links between them. Guessing that's a "tad" :-) (few billion) more expensive than a pair of shortwave transceivers. But if money is not an issue they say they can do 1.5x faster than terrestrial speed: http://leosat.com/media/1115/leosat-finance.pdf http://leosat.com/media/1115/leosat-finance.pdf 100ms NY to Tokyo, for example. Not bad.
- bostik 9y ago> Why aren't HFT firms using short wave radio (DXing)? They are. See mshook's response, with nice reference links downthread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16196339 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16196339
- mkj 9y agoThose are microwave which basically need line of sight? I was thinking of lower frequencies which can sometimes go hundreds of kilometers without repeaters.
- Retric 9y agoYou want your severs as close as possible to an exchange. Even 2 miles is a noticeable increase in latency.
- jlgaddis 9y agoBandiwdth, mostly. The lower you go in frequency, the less bandwidth is available. The entire "HF" spectrum is ~30 MHz. My Wi-Fi at home uses a wider channel than that. The lower frequencies -- that will travel across the ocean, unaided -- don't have anywhere near the bandwidth necessary (to support the throughput that they need).