- Gemini slashes trading latency by 80% to under 2 milliseconds.
- Leverages AWS Outposts for on-premise cloud infrastructure.
- Utilizes AWS Local Zones for edge computing in major metro areas.
- Achieves sub-3ms end-to-end latency with client onboarding in minutes.
In the fast-paced world of financial trading, every millisecond counts. Gemini, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has achieved a remarkable 80% reduction in trading latency, bringing round-trip times down to under 2 milliseconds. This significant leap is attributed to a strategic collaboration with AWS, deploying a sophisticated hybrid cloud architecture featuring AWS Outposts and Local Zones, fundamentally transforming how institutional traders interact with their platform.
The core challenge for high-frequency trading (HFT) and institutional clients isn't just about average latency, but its determinism. As Joshua Smith, Senior Solutions Architect at AWS, highlighted, "Light only moves so fast. Distance is latency." Even a path with a faster average latency but frequent spikes (jitter) can be detrimental, leading to missed opportunities and worse fill prices. Traders demand the tightest P99 and P99.9 latencies, ensuring consistent, predictable execution.
To address this, Gemini adopted AWS Local Zones, which extend an AWS region physically into major metro areas like New York City. This strategic placement allows Gemini's compute resources to be nearly collocated with their matching engine in NY5, reducing round-trip times to a mere millisecond. Complementing this, AWS Outposts brings the full AWS infrastructure, including specialized hardware like AMD Solarflare NIC cards supporting kernel bypass and native Layer 2 multicast, directly into Gemini's data center. This ensures that even on-premise components benefit from cloud management and ultra-low latency capabilities, without sacrificing the deterministic networking primitives crucial for capital markets.
The architectural overhaul also involved a software rewrite to adapt from traditional multicast in data centers to AWS MSK (Managed Streaming for Kafka) for market data streaming within the region. For client connectivity, a VPC tree-like structure with automated gateways running on EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) within Local Zones ensures elastic scalability and rapid client onboarding. Yu Kong Sun, Head of Trading Solutions at Gemini, emphasized that this setup allows for sub-3ms end-to-end latency with setup times reduced from months to minutes, a "key unlock" for expanding institutional access and fostering a new generation of traders, as demonstrated by their successful trading competition that onboarded 51 teams in just one week.
This innovative hybrid approach empowers Gemini to offer a unified, vertically integrated platform for diverse market products—from crypto and predictions to futures and equities—all within a single, high-performance venue. By combining low-latency infrastructure, AI acceleration, and market intelligence, Gemini is not just evolving as a crypto exchange but as a broader markets company, securing its future with a resilient, scalable, and ultra-fast trading ecosystem.
“The third column is what we built. AWS local zone and outposts and VPC peering and all these technologies combined allow us to deliver sub 3 millisecond end-to-end latency with minutes of setup time. I think that's really the key unlock here.”
- Paget Stanco, Lead, Institutional team at Gemini
