Data Feed Propagation Delay

Cause

Data feed propagation delay refers to the time lag between an event occurring on a source exchange and its reception by a downstream trading system. The primary causes of this delay include network latency, data processing bottlenecks, and geographical distance between the exchange server and the data consumer. In high-frequency trading, propagation delay creates information asymmetry, where some market participants receive data faster than others. This delay is a critical factor in determining the profitability of arbitrage strategies.