High Frequency Trading (HFT) software tools are designed to execute trades very quickly and automatically at extremely high speeds (often in milliseconds or even microseconds). They leverage sophisticated algorithms and low-latency infrastructure to identify and exploit short-term trading opportunities in financial markets.
To automate the decision-making and trade execution process, modern HFT platforms incorporate strategies like statistical arbitrage, momentum trading, and other technical methods to capitalize on short-term price movements or market discrepancies.
Some platforms feature backtesting and simulation techniques, making it easy for traders to test their algorithms and optimize strategies before deploying them in live trades.
HFT platforms are mainly used by institutional investors, hedge funds, professional trading firms, and proprietary trading desks. They are not suitable for individual retail traders due to the complexities, high costs, and specialized technology infrastructure involved.
The market of HFT services is dynamic — new platforms emerge every month while many become obsolete over time. In order to keep you updated with the latest technology and current market trends, We’ve listed some of the most reliable High Frequency Trading software available in the market.
While they can help you exploit fleeting market inefficiencies and make more profit, you must carefully consider the risks and rewards before selecting a specialized HFT tool for your business.
Did you know?
The high-frequency strategy was first popularized by Renaissance Technologies, a prominent hedge fund and investment management firm known for its exceptional returns. In 2023, the global HFT server market was valued at $604.1 million, and it is projected to reach $918 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 6.2%.
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9. Lime Brokerage
Minimum deposit: $1000
Lime Brokerage offers powerful trading systems, low-latency execution, and direct market access to various financial exchanges.
It focuses on minimizing delays between order placement and execution, delivering ultra-fast order execution. This allows you to capitalize on market opportunities swiftly.
While its direct market access eliminates intermediaries and increases transparency and control over trading activities, the smart order routing (SOR) technology intelligently routes orders to the most favorable venues. SOR takes several factors into account, such as order size, price, and liquidity, to ensure efficient trade execution.
The platform also provides tools and reports to evaluate the effectiveness of your execution strategies. It reports several key metrics, including fill rates, execution speed, and price improvement.
Key Features and Stats
- Performance management and reporting
- Integrated with risk management tools
- 90+ technical analysis studies and drawing tools
- Provides APIs and mobile applications
- Executed over 11 billion shares and traded 21 billion shares in 2022
The platform supports trading across multiple asset classes, including equities, futures, options, and foreign exchange. You can customize it as per your requirements or utilize APIs to integrate third-party applications, market data feeds, and algorithmic strategies.
8. Redline Software
Pricing is based on the number of trading servers and Managed Services requested
Redline is a comprehensive, high-performance software that facilitates algorithm trading strategies and low-latency trading.
It allows you to enhance tick-to-trade performance and quickly onboard additional markets while minimizing operational costs. It directly connects you to 180+ global trading venues, helping you discover precise pricing and capture the best short-term opportunities in the market.
Redline has a proprietary Pre-Trade Risk analytics engine to run a series of verifications, risk checks, and control actions. These checks are implemented across equities and foreign exchange markets.
It also features order throttling, position limits, and circuit breaker mechanisms to ensure compliance and avoid exorbitant losses.
Key Features
- Offers customizable execution algos
- Captures historical market data in raw packet form
- A fully embedded Pre-Trade Risk layer
- Market simulator for Backtesting and User Acceptance Testing
The platform also allows you to test your strategies against a simulation of exchange matching engines. Run validation and regression tests against exchange response scenarios, including complex, hard-to-recreate market conditions.
Redline conducts pre-market checkouts and real-time production monitoring. They provide 24-hour coverage from their global operations centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.
7. InfoReach HiFREQ
Pricing: Subscription starts at $10,000 per month for up to 10 users
With HiFREQ, you can deploy HFT strategies for equities, futures, options, and FX trading. It has the capability to execute tens of thousands of orders at sub-millisecond latency.
HiFREQ has an open, broker-neutral architecture. This means you can create and deploy your own strategies (no matter how complex they are) and access algorithms developed by other brokers or third-party providers.
Unlike most other HFT platforms, HiFREQ is highly customizable. It makes it easy to tailor your trading plans to specific objectives and market scenarios. It supports a range of execution algorithms and trading parameters, so you can optimize and adapt strategies as required.
Key Features
- Sub-millisecond latency
- Open and scalable architecture
- Advanced risk management
- Comprehensive reporting system
- Backtesting and simulation environment
InfoReach’s products support connectivity to 250+ global exchanges, Multilateral Trading Facilities, Electronic Communication Networks, and liquidity providers. Your orders are routed to the target market destination via InfoReach’s internal low-latency Financial Information Exchange (FIX) protocol.
In other words, it gives you quick access to a broad range of markets and trading venues.
As for pricing, InfoReach uses a subscription-based model. While the cost of a subscription varies depending on the amount of market data and the number of trading venues being accessed, the base price is usually $10,000 per month for up to 10 users. Each additional user costs $1,000 per month.
6. Iress Trading Platform
Pricing: Monthly subscription starts at $1,000 (for high-frequency traders)
Iress, an Australian financial technology company, provides real-time market data, analytics, and execution tools. These tools are designed to execute trades quickly and efficiently in fast-paced financial markets.
Since Iress hosts its data centers near major exchanges, its platform reduces latency and enhances trading performance.
It provides low-latency, normalized market data feeds from over 145 global exchanges and trading venues. These feeds offer historical and real-time data across multiple asset classes, including fixed income, equities, futures, options, and foreign exchange.
Key Features
- Over 200 normalized market data feeds from 145+ exchanges
- Order routing from 19 global points-of-presence
- Comprehensive reference data
- Historical data on-demand
- Available as managed and software solutions
The platform is also integrated with advanced analytics and visualization tools to help you understand complex market data. For instance, it has pre-trade analytics, post-trade transaction cost analysis, and a customizable dashboard that helps you make data-driven trading decisions.
According to the company’s official website, about 9,000 financial services businesses use Iress software to perform better and make more profits.
5. FlexTrade System
Founded in 1996Optimal execution schedules that factors in a PM strategy or alpha trading profile is critical. With FlexAlgoWheel, traders can select various order attributes and parameters without requiring programming knowledge. Learn more: https://t.co/FAUgO2odMs #fintech #algowheel pic.twitter.com/fOHI8XB3JN
— FlexTrade Systems (@FlexTrade) June 8, 2023
FlexTrades Systems provides multi-asset execution management systems (EMS) and order management systems (OMS) for the global financial industry. These systems (specifically designed for large firms) allow you to streamline your trading operations, executive trade efficiently, and manage investment workflows.
EMS, for instance, makes it easier to trade in equities, fixed-income, futures, options, and FX markets. It offers smart order routing, algorithmic trading, real-time analytics, and advanced tools to optimize trade execution and reduce market impact.
OMS streamlines the order lifecycle management process, allowing you to efficiently manage orders, allocations, and workflows across various asset classes and trading venues.
Key Features
- Customizable, multi-asset trading strategies
- Pre- and post-trade analytics
- Market data-driven short-term alpha forecasts
- Backtest a day’s worth of data in 30 seconds
Their platform supports over 400 algorithmic trading mechanisms developed for different market scenarios and trading styles. These mechanisms leverage real-time market data and advanced analytics to automate trade execution and optimize order routing.
Orders are automatically routed to the most suitable trading venues to achieve the best execution.
And since FlexTrade operates globally, with offices in major financial centers worldwide, they provide local services and support to each client, ensuring reliable operations.
4. TradeStation
TradeStation has a long history of providing innovative trading tools and brokerage services to active investors and traders.
It offers various trading platforms, including desktop, web-based, and mobile applications. They all utilize real-time market and fast order execution technology. They give you access to multiple asset classes, including stocks, futures, options, cryptocurrencies, and ETFs.
Unlike other HFT platforms, TradeStation focuses on retail traders (not on large financial firms). It provides various educational resources to help small traders improve their skills and make more profits.
Key Features
- Dynamic market-scanning tools.
- Customizable charts and reports
- Advanced order management system
- Scanning tools to identify trading opportunities
TradeStation provides access to vast volumes of historical databases of stocks, futures, and index data. For instance, daily stock data goes back over 50 years, and futures data goes back as far as 70 years. The daily index data, such as Dow Jones, goes back to 1920.
This gives you the depth you need to support your back-tested trade and make more informed decisions.
3. NinjaTrader
Minimum deposit: Zero
NinjaTrader is designed for traders of all experience levels, from novices and professionals to algorithmic trading developers. It is known for its powerful charting and analysis tools, as well as its ability to trade in various markets, including futures, options, and forex.
Its proprietary SuperDOM (depth of market) system lets you quickly analyze prices, place orders, and manage your strategies precisely. It protects your positions with automatically submitted stop orders, target orders, and self-tightening trailing stops, eliminating emotions from your trading.
Use the order flow visualization to accurately identify buying or selling pressure and confirm market movement in a particular direction as trades unfold. The best thing is you can check prices, place orders, view charts, and manage your account via smartphones and tablets.
Key Features
- Advanced charting and analysis tools
- Order flow visualization
- Extensive historical tick, min, and daily data
- Simulated trading environment
- Third-party Ecosystem
While NinjaTrader offers a powerful framework to execute automated trading strategies, it also allows you to create your own custom trading mechanisms using NinjaScript, a proprietary scripting language.
You can leverage thousands of third-party technical indicators, strategies, and applications to create a custom trading setup for your unique requirements.
Furthermore, the platform supports backtesting and optimization to evaluate strategy performance.
For small traders, it provides $50 intraday margins for Micro contracts and $500 margins for popular futures markets.
2. Virtu Financial
Annual Revenue: $2.36 billion+
Virtu Financial leverages advanced technology and quantitative trading mechanisms to provide liquidity and quickly execute trades across various financial instruments.
It invests heavily in developing reliable trading systems and connectivity to exchanges and trading venues worldwide. Its proprietary infrastructure helps reduce execution times and capitalize on short-term opportunities.
They offer a range of services, from block and dark pool trading to algorithmic trading, in 25,000+ securities at 235+ venues.
Key Benefits
- Customized trading solutions
- Detailed research and market insights
- Regulatory compliance support
- Global connectivity and colocation services
The company places a strong emphasis on technology and quantitative analysis. It employs a team of data scientists, quantitative researchers, and experienced developers who build and optimize innovative trading systems and data analytics tools.
The other crucial aspect of Virtu’s operations is risk management. They have developed a comprehensive risk monitoring system to manage market, operational, and other types of risks related to trading activities.
Virtu Financial went public in 2015 and is currently listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange having a cap of over $3.02 billion.
1. Citadel Securities
Annual Revenue: $7.5 billion+
Citadel Securities specializes in executing ultrafast trades, providing liquidity, and making markets across various asset classes, including fixed income, equities, futures, options, and foreign exchange.
It is one of the world’s largest market-making companies that utilize advanced trading technologies to offer competitive prices and execute trades efficiently. It facilitates the smooth functioning of financial markets by quoting bid and ask prices and providing liquidity to buyers and sellers.
Over the years, the company has operated a sophisticated trading infrastructure, including high-speed connectivity and robust tech platforms. These platforms enable effective risk management and real-time monitoring of market conditions.
Key Stats
- 36% of U.S.-listed retail volume is executed through Citadel Securities
- Active in 50+ markets
- Over $463 billion in trades executed a day
Citadel Securities also conducts research and analysis to gain deeper insights into the market microstructure, liquidity dynamics, trading patterns, and market trends.
The company treats market problems as scientific questions. Its quants analyze patterns and form hypotheses, defining ideas with mathematical precision. If data supports a hypothesis, they develop large-scale strategies to implement those ideas.
Citadel Securities is registered with the CBI, FINRA, IIROC, CFTC, SEC, OSC, UK FCA, and HK SFC.
Other Equally Good HFT Platforms
10. Stellar Trading Systems
Founded in 2003Stellar Trading Systems provides a suite of tools to meet the requirements of various trading techniques and asset classes. It allows you to trade in equities, futures, options, fixed income, foreign exchange, and commodities.
Its front-end trading software combines fast order entry with a higher degree of flexibility. It shows all standard trading screens, including price ladder, grid view, time, sales, and spread matrix.
The Steller architecture offloads the complexities and workload of the trading process onto servers, freeing the front end to focus solely on trader interaction and fast order execution.
Key Features
- Intuitive front-end
- Pre- and post-trade risk control
- Comprehensive backtesting capabilities
- Integrated complex event processing engine
The platform can automatically manage leg orders and balance the inter-market spreads, allowing you to focus on your trading strategies. It also lets you create custom trading screens and configure notifications and alerts as per your needs.
11. CQG Integrated Client
Founded in 1984CQG Primer Pivot Points (cqg.PivotPts). CQG Product Specialist Jim Stavros has created a custom version of the Pivot Points study that displays six support and six resistance lines. Download the PAC at the link. https://t.co/Q8v2d7Ki66 pic.twitter.com/9EKBZXdJl1
— CQGInc (@CQGInc) June 21, 2024
Price: Starts at $595 per month | Two-week free trial available
CQG Integrated Client is a high-performance trading and technical analysis tool designed for professional traders, brokers, and institutions.
It is packed with a range of features, including real-time market data, advanced charting, order entry and management, risk management, portfolio tracking, and automated trading.
It provides historical and real-time market data from major global exchanges covering equities, futures, options, and foreign exchange. You can access depth-of-market information, streaming quotes, time and sales data, and detailed charts to make data-driven trading decisions.
Key Features
- View market-depth information
- Risk and account monitoring
- Expert-level option analysis
- Automated trading strategies
The platform also allows you to test your strategies before implementing them in a live market. Analyze past trading activities and then create and test strategies. It gives you multiple independent modules (like Entry Signal Evaluator and Trade System Optimizer) to test your ideas.
Or, you can use CQG’s proprietary programming language, called Formula Language, to develop custom trading algorithms and automated systems.
The company is known for providing high-quality market data. They have been in business for nearly four decades and have formed a reputation for accuracy and reliability.
12. InteractiveBrokers’ Trader Workstation
Released in 1996InteractiveBrokers’ Workstation allows you to trade stocks, futures, options, bonds, currencies, and funds on 150+ markets worldwide — from a single unified platform.
It’s a highly customizable platform that can be tailored to your specific needs and style. You can choose from numerous layouts, add or remove windows, add gradients and bars to spot patterns, and create custom functions and hotkeys.
It also provides several sophisticated tools for market research, technical analysis, and portfolio management. The advanced charting window, for instance, helps you precisely track price movements and identify short-term trading opportunities.
Key Features
- Up-to-the-minute news from leading news services
- Create real-time alerts
- Practice with a Paper Trading account
- Accessible through web browsers and mobile devices
Unlike traditional HFT platforms, InteractiveBrokers’ Workstation makes it easier for you to evaluate options positions, calculate Greeks, visualize implied volatility, and analyze the potential impact of market changes on your option strategies.
It also keeps you updated with real-time news feeds, market commentary, and research reports from trusted sources.
More to Know
Things you should consider while selecting a High Frequency Trading platform
You should consider the following factors to ensure the HFT software aligns with your specific trading requirements:
- Performance and latency
- Connectivity to the markets and exchanges
- Algorithmic trading capabilities
- Risk management tools
- Integration capabilities with third-party systems
- Fees charged on different asset classes
- The level of support offered
- Compliance with relevant regulatory requirements
- Reputation and track record in the industry
How much does a conventional HFT platform cost?
The cost of HFT platform can vary substantially based on several factors, such as the size and complexity of the system, the specific features and functionalities included, and the level of customization required.
In general, costs can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars per month. This includes licensing fees, infrastructure costs, market connectivity costs, infrastructure costs, and support and maintenance.
Are they risky?
Yes. HFT platforms are subject to latency risks, execution risks, system failures, and market volatility. Since you trade higher volumes, a small mistake can lead to significant losses. Also, you remain under increasing regulatory scrutiny — you may face heavy fines if authorities find you violating any regulations.
While these platforms carry risks, they also offer opportunities for market liquidity and efficiency. You can mitigate risks by conducting thorough research, carefully implementing proven strategies, and adhering to robust risk management practices.
The market size of High Frequency Trading
The global HFT market size will exceed $16.9 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 12% from 2023 to 2030. Tower Research Capital, Citadel LLC, Flow Traders, Virtu Financial, and Optiver are the leading players in this industry.
Why you can trust us?
We thoroughly analyzed over 25 High Frequency Trading platforms and services that offer exceptional performance and connectivity to global markets. It took about 20 hours to do the complete research. Finally, we decided to shortlist 12 HFT software platforms based on their reputation and the level of features and support offered.
We DO NOT earn commission from any of the featured companies. Moreover, we have two independent editors who have no influence over our listing criteria or recommendations.
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