Kdb+ is a database system with a built-in time-series query language, called q. It provides unified access to streaming, real-time and historical data and is ideally suited for implementations like at IEX, where over a million queries per day are performed on quotes, trades and internal messages in real time.

A well-known buy-side owned trading venue, IEX put its kdb+ data platform into production when it launched in October 2013. Dedicated to institutionalizing fairness in the markets, IEX now makes up approximately 1% of total market share for U.S. equities. IEX’s implementation of kdb+ is designed to seamlessly scale if and when it secures approval as an SEC-approved national stock exchange.

“Kx software has been used by financial firms for over two decades for among other things, implementing and back-testing algorithmic trading strategies at top institutions,” said Janet Lustgarten, CEO Kx Systems. “We are pleased to be part of IEX’s applications and believe kdb+ will give them the best performance possible to help them achieve their goal of fairness in the markets.”

IEX has built a single system that sequences orders from broker subscribers as well as quotes and trades from all Reg-NMS protected venues, including the 11 national exchanges trading U.S. equities. IEX performs real-time analytics on this data and analyzes order flow for client servicing and business monitoring purposes.

“We do feel that the kdb+ database needs to get special mention when discussing our market operations surveillance,” said Robert Park, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at IEX. “We were looking for a platform with the ability to read and write in real time, which kdb+ does well. We also liked its flexible query language because there is no ambiguity in sequencing. We can ask any question we like, the only limit is what we can think of to ask.”