Memory Alignment

Memory alignment is the practice of arranging data in memory at addresses that are multiples of the data size. Modern CPU architectures are optimized to read memory in chunks, and if a data structure spans across these boundaries, the processor must perform multiple memory cycles to retrieve a single value.

In trading systems, aligning data structures ensures that critical financial data like order prices or quantities are accessed in a single cycle. Proper alignment prevents performance penalties and is essential for building robust, high-performance matching engines.

It is a foundational concept in systems programming that ensures hardware efficiency.