Message Serialization Overhead

Message serialization overhead is the computational cost associated with converting complex trading data structures into a format suitable for transmission over a network, and then deserializing it upon receipt. This process consumes CPU cycles and adds to the total latency of an order request.

In high-frequency trading, minimizing this overhead is crucial, often leading developers to use binary protocols like SBE or Protobuf instead of human-readable formats like JSON. Efficient serialization allows for faster parsing and faster entry into the matching engine.

As trading systems become more sophisticated, the optimization of these serialization layers becomes a significant part of the overall performance engineering effort.