Bitstamp, the world’s longest-running cryptocurrency exchange and Europe’s largest by trade volume, has integrated a new matching engine from Nasdaq’s technology vendor arm Market Technology, making Bitstamp the first major fiat to crypto exchange with a matching engine on par with traditional financial exchanges.
The implementation of Nasdaq’s order matching technology allows Bitstamp to meet high levels of demand even during extreme volume spikes. With the new engine, orders are matched as they are opened, without placing them in a waiting queue. Customers have certainty that when their order is placed, it will either be promptly executed or they will be immediately notified that the order could not be matched at that moment - a significant benefit to high-frequency and institutional traders who need to make split-second decisions regarding their orders.
“By upgrading their technology with a scalable and robust solution from Nasdaq, Bitstamp can continue to bolster their capacity, performance and resiliency,” said Andy Green, Vice President and Head of EMEA, Nasdaq Market Technology. “We look forward to supporting Bitstamp in their growth and technology journey.”
The new matching engine will allow Bitstamp to match orders up to 1250 times faster and increase the platform’s throughput by up to 400 times compared to the their previous solution, according to Bitstamp and Kaiko’s research. The exchange’s previous infrastructure was already fast enough for the average investor, and the upgrade will certainly be noticeable by high-frequency traders. Moreover, the new matching engine provides Bitstamp with the infrastructure to roll out new order types and trading pairs efficiently and at scale, ultimately enabling Bitstamp to create a better product for all customers.
“The new matching engine from Nasdaq doesn’t just bolster Bitstamp’s performance, it gives us a great foundation from which to build new features,” said David Osojnik, Chief Technology Officer at Bitstamp. “Bitstamp is once again leading the charge in the technological evolution of crypto trading, with the goal of making our industry more accommodating to sophisticated players used to the performance of traditional financial markets.”
Bitstamp will increase its performance gradually over the course of this year, steadily reducing the latency of all orders placed through their webpage and app. The most significant difference will come in the world of API trading, where Bitstamp will use the new matching engine’s capabilities to start working on a rebuilt FIX API that will enable trade execution in speeds under a millisecond. This will allow Bitstamp to offer a new level of performance that professional traders are used to from traditional markets like Forex, but is currently not available on cryptocurrency markets.
The technology implementation comes at a busy time for Bitstamp. The pioneer exchange recently introduced GBP trading, with all its fiat and cryptocurrencies now paired with GBP. It has also launched support for two new cryptocurrencies in June - Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Paxos Standard (PAX), which became the first stablecoin listed at Bitstamp. The new matching technology will enable more efficient and scalable order matching.