Categories: Connectivity

RULEMATCH makes it possible for financial institutions to connect to the trading venue swiftly and securely. The industry-standard FIX access protocol (4.4 and 5.0SP2) is available. Participants and sponsored non-participants also have the option to use Nasdaq’s proprietary ITCH/OUCH and MDF protocols.

RULEMATCH offers a variety of connectivity options in order for Participants to choose the one that matches their technical infrastructure and latency expectations. These options are grouped into four main categories:

1. Internet
2. AWS Private Link
3. Direct Connect (Equinix PoP / Green Cross Connect & DCI)
4. Colocation

Internet:

Connectivity via Internet allows the participant to connect from anywhere in the world, with no onsite or AWS presence required. Only registered IP addresses of participants are allowed to access via Internet, and RULEMATCH uses an allowlist to allow connections. No plaintext traffic is supported.

The following network security protocols are available:

• Transport Layer Security (TLS)
• VPN via Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) or Wireguard: For redundancy, participants are required to set up two VPN tunnels to each of the two sites of RULEMATCH (Green Data Centers in Lupfig & Schlieren in the Zurich metro area). No encryption is necessary, but TLS endpoints are available.

AWS Private Link:

RULEMATCH provides the possibility to connect participants via AWS Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs). This enables private connectivity between VPCs and the participants’ on-premises networks without exposing the traffic to the public Internet.

Participants hosting their trading services in AWS Cloud can benefit from low-latency communication with RULEMATCH services using AWS Direct Connect to provide a stable and ultra-fast path to the participants’ exposed services. The following AWS Cloud regions are supported:

• eu-central-1 (AWS Frankfurt)
• eu-central-2 (AWS Zurich)

Connectivity via AWS private link requires the participants to have an AWS presence in a RULEMATCH supported region.

No encryption is necessary, but TLS endpoints are available.

Direct Connect:

Equinix PoP Service

Through the Point of Presence (PoP) service, RULEMATCH provides high-speed fiber network connections. RULEMATCH PoP gives participants the ability to simply cross-connect from an Equinix datacenter to the RULEMATCH network and receive low-latency market data access and order entry capabilities.

Connectivity via direct connect requires the participant to be able to configure a physical cross-connect in a RULEMATCH supported datacenter:

• Equinix ZH4
• Equinix ZH5

In addition to the RULEMATCH PoPs, connections are also possible via Internet Exchanges (iX). SwissIX is the currently supported Internet exchange.

No encryption is necessary (except for iX connection), but TLS endpoints are available. Wireguard & IPSec VPNs are available on request. Routes are propagated using BGP, both in PoPs as well as in iXs.

Green Cross Connect & DCI

The RULEMATCH matching engine runs in a redundant setup in two Green datacenters. Participants also having their trading infrastructure within the Green datacenters may use the Green Cross Connect or Datacenter Interconnect (DCI) services, in order to setup a direct connection to the RULEMATCH matching engine. RULEMATCH is present in two locations:

• Green Data Center Lupfig
• Green Data Center Schlieren

No encryption is necessary, but TLS endpoints are available. Wireguard & IPSec VPNs are available on request. Routes are propagated using BGP. Single Direct Connect lines are subject to unexpected hardware failure or planned maintenance. RULEMATCH recommends that participants set up two separate Direct Connects to ensure continuous coverage.

Colocation:

Participants are able to colocate in the Green Data Centers, achieving the shortest path possible to the RULEMATCH matching engine. Colocated participants benefit from non-encrypted (“plaintext”) communication to RULEMATCH services, which in combination with the binary communication protocols from Nasdaq (OUCH/ITCH) leads to the lowest latency possible for order entry and market data services.

Connectivity method summary:

FIX (Financial Information eXchange) is a widely used messaging protocol in the financial industry for the electronic exchange of trade-related information. FIX allows participants of RULEMATCH to transmit orders, trade executions, and receive detailed order book information in a standardized format.

FIX 4.4:

FIX 4.4 is one of the most widely implemented versions of the FIX protocol and has become a de facto standard for many financial institutions.

FIX 5.0SP2:

FIX 5.0 is a newer, enhanced version of the FIX protocol. It introduces new message types, expanded field sets, and improved support for complex trading instruments and regulatory requirements.

All FIX specifications for Order Entry, Drop Copy, Market Data and Reference Data, as well as QuickFix dictionary are available within the participant section of RULEMATCH.

ITCH and OUCH are communication protocols developed by Nasdaq for the purpose of facilitating ultra-low latency trading. These protocols are of particular relevance for participants collocated with the RULEMATCH matching engine.

ITCH (Nasdaq TotalView-ITCH):
ITCH is a proprietary data protocol used by Nasdaq to disseminate real-time, detailed order book information. It provides a comprehensive view of the limit order book for all instruments traded on RULEMATCH, including the best bid and ask prices, order sizes, and other market data. ITCH is primarily used by high-frequency traders, market makers, algorithmic trading systems, and other market participants who require low-latency access to real-time order book data.

OUCH (Omnibus/Unicast/CHannel):
OUCH is another proprietary protocol developed by Nasdaq. It is used for submitting orders, receiving order confirmations, and retrieving other trading-related information from the trading venue. OUCH is a binary protocol that offers a faster and more efficient way of sending and receiving trading instructions compared to older text-based protocols.

MDF (Market Data Feed)

Nasdaq MDF is an ITCH-like direct data feed that distributes complementary market data not contained in the regular ITCH feed, like the Market-by-Price (MBP) depth, time messages, and market announcements.