Transaction Finality Time
Transaction finality time is the duration between the submission of a transaction and the point at which it becomes irreversible on the blockchain. Unlike traditional finance where settlement can take days, blockchain finality depends on the consensus mechanism of the specific protocol.
Some protocols offer probabilistic finality, where the probability of a transaction being reversed decreases over time, while others offer deterministic finality. This time is a crucial component of execution latency because a trader cannot consider a position fully closed or settled until finality is reached.
Long finality times introduce risk, especially in highly volatile markets where the price could move significantly before the transaction is truly final. Optimizing for fast finality is a key focus for high-performance financial blockchains.