Low Latency Infrastructure for Fintech: Why Microseconds Decide Who Wins

By Jhoan Checo, Director of Sales, Hivelocity 

The global high‑frequency trading market reached $10.36 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $16.03 billion by 2030. Today, 89% of global trading volume is driven by AI‑powered algorithms. In this world, the firms that win aren’t the ones with the most compute—it’s the ones with the most predictable compute. 

Over the past year, working closely with trading teams and fintech platforms, I’ve seen the same pattern appear again and again: the strategies are getting faster, the models are getting smarter, and the profits are getting thinner. And in that environment, a microsecond isn’t a metric—it’s a competitive edge, a revenue driver, and sometimes the entire difference between winning and missing a trade. 

This is the reality modern fintech is built on. And it’s forcing a fundamental re-think of where infrastructure lives and how it behaves. 

What low latency actually means in trading 

Low latency is the delay between intent and execution—the time it takes for data to travel, be processed, and act. In trading, we measure that delay in microseconds.

When two firms see the same opportunity at the same time, the first one to execute typically captures the lion’s share of profit. That’s why latency arbitrage battles are won by 5–10 microseconds. A Bank for International Settlements study put global latency‑arbitrage profits at $5 billion annually—a number that exists solely because one firm was faster than another. That speed doesn’t come from bigger servers. It comes from physics‑aligned infrastructure choices. 

The cloud’s unsolvable physics problem 

Cloud platforms changed the world. But they never solved for determinism. Across dozens of conversations with risk teams, quant groups, and HFT desks this year, I’ve heard the same frustration: “We don’t have a capacity problem—we have a variance problem.” 

In cloud environments, one execution might take 100 microseconds, the next 500, using the same code and the same data. Hypervisors introduce jitter. Shared resources cause unpredictable queuing. Multi‑tenant architectures generate noisy-neighbor effects, and network paths shift dynamically and invisibly.

That unpredictability is disqualifying for firms operating in microsecond-sensitive workflows. Cloud wasn’t built for consistency. Trading strategies require repeatability. 

Why geography became strategy 

In the United States, fintech performance centers around the New Jersey Equity Triangle—Carteret, Mahwah, and Secaucus. Fiber travels at ~4.9 microseconds per kilometer. That makes physical distance as important as code efficiency. 

I’ve seen firms cut latency by 40% using dedicated microwave paths between London and New York, and 25% by optimizing Singapore–Tokyo with hybrid routing. Also, from 25ms down to 2.5ms—a 10x improvement—just by abandoning shared cloud and moving to bare metal near the exchanges.

This is why I tell teams: “Your architecture doesn’t need to change. Your ZIP code does.” 

 The rise of proximity computing 

Proximity compute is the strategy fintech adopted out of necessity: put compute physically close to the systems it depends on, eliminate abstraction layers, and optimize routing for the shortest possible path. 

Key realities driving adoption 58% of trading firms now use colocation, reducing latency to single‑digit microseconds. Institutional systems regularly achieve 200–500 microsecond latency using kernel bypass and purpose‑built hardware. The colocation market is growing at 14.4% annually, driven largely by financial services.

Proximity compute works because it brings three things fintech can’t live without: Deterministic performance, predictable network paths, Full control from metal to application.

Remove hypervisors, multi‑tenant noise, and unpredictable routing—and suddenly your infrastructure behaves like a competitive asset instead of an operational risk. 

Fintech saw the future first 

Fintech wasn’t trying to define the next generation of global infrastructure. It just needed to win trades. But in solving its own latency problem, fintech accidentally revealed what every real‑time system will require next. 

The same constraints now shape: AI inference, real‑time fraud prevention, payment authorization, blockchain validation, geospatial analytics, streaming personalization, and logistics decisioning.

AI is the clearest example. A model that responds in 50ms can create a product that a 200ms model never could. Cloud introduces too much variance, too much jitter, too much unpredictability—exactly the same challenges fintech learned to avoid a decade ago. 

Different industries, same physics. 

Where Hivelocity fits in 

Across every trading and AI engagement I’ve led, the same insight keeps surfacing: “Performance variance—not performance capacity—is the bottleneck.” 

At Hivelocity, our role is simple: deploy infrastructure exactly where it creates competitive advantage—and make its performance as predictable as physics will allow. 

That means: 

• Global bare‑metal footprint engineered for deterministic performance 
• Dedicated private cloud environments with zero multi‑tenant interference 
• Proximity deployments near exchanges and financial hubs 
• Routing optimized for latency, not cost 
• Instant global provisioning to match the 24/7 rhythm of markets

Our NPS score of 78 doesn’t come from fancy promises—it comes from delivering consistent, predictable performance where inconsistency is expensive. Fintech rebuilt its infrastructure to win microseconds. Now, AI, machine learning, blockchain, and real‑time platforms are racing to win milliseconds. Next: nanoseconds. 

The next era of infrastructure will be won by those who embrace physics 

The firms that lead the next decade will be the ones who treat infrastructure as a weapon—not a commodity.

They will run compute close to users and exchanges, and ruthlessly optimize network paths. They will keep data and decisioning local and minimize jitter at all layers. They will scale globally without sacrificing consistency. Proximity computing isn’t a trend. It’s the infrastructure model the physics of the world demands. 

Ready to reduce latency where it matters most? 

If you want a latency audit, a routing optimization review, or a proximity placement assessment, my team and I will walk you through exactly where your bottlenecks are—and how much performance you’re leaving on the table. 

Because in modern fintech, you’re not competing on strategy.

You’re competing on time. 

— Jhoan Checo