Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work on numerous FIX (Financial Information Exchange) projects, each presenting unique challenges and learning experiences. The first project, however, remains particularly memorable.​

Twenty years ago, the landscape was vastly different from today’s ultra-low latency, direct-to-exchange trading environment. Back then, the primary goal was simply to ensure orders reached the exchange via FIX. Direct connectivity to exchanges was not common, and many firms relied on third-party vendors to facilitate this access.​

Each setup was highly customized, requiring client orders to be modified and re-routed through the vendor before reaching the exchange. Configuring these routes often involved manipulating FIX headers to ensure proper transmission. Unlike today’s race for nanosecond execution times, latency back then was measured in seconds, and achieving milliseconds was considered impressive.​

In my first FIX project, I was tasked with designing DMA flow within the existing FIX infrastructure by configuring the FIX headers to route client orders through a vendor to the exchange. This required meticulous attention to detail, as every parameter had to align perfectly for the orders to be processed successfully. This experience laid the foundation for my deep understanding of FIX protocol and complex order routing, which has been invaluable in subsequent projects.