70% + of quant firms see market data infrastructure affected by high volatility
LONDON, 27 January 2026 – Rising market data volumes, spikes in data traffic and the redistribution of liquidity beyond traditional trading hours, are forcing quantitative trading firms to rethink their trading infrastructure, a new report from Acuiti and Exegy has found.
2026 State of Trading Infrastructure: How Structural Shifts Are Redefining Market Data and Trading at Quantitative Firms, which is released today, is based on a global survey and series of interviews with senior trading and technology leaders at 61 quantitative trading firms.
The report found that market data volumes are rising significantly, and unpredictable bursts of activity during periods of volatility are becoming more frequent, which is placing significant pressure on operations. The research also found that extended trading hours and the fragmentation of liquidity across venues are challenging front-office technology infrastructure that was built to accommodate traditional trading windows. As liquidity increasingly forms outside traditional US trading windows, firms are having to invest in adapting systems.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents reported market data performance issues during volatile conditions, ranging from latency spikes to dropped data and even full outages. In addition, just 29% of respondents said that their front-office infrastructure was capable of processing the volumes they expect at the end of the decade without further investment.
In addition, the growing integration of crypto markets into quantitative strategies is adding further complexity. With digital asset markets operating 24/7 and with unique volatility patterns and data requirements, firms are rethinking how market data is processed and scaled across asset classes.
The key findings are:
- Liquidity is shifting beyond the traditional trading day: Extended trading hours and global participation are redistributing liquidity across overnight and out of hours sessions, introducing new price signals and operational challenges for firms set up to trade the US trading window
- Market structure changes are driving higher data volumes: Adjustments to tick sizes, lot definitions and related rules are increasing quote churn and steadily raising market data traffic
- Data variability now poses a greater risk than steady growth: Unpredictable spikes driven by volatility and automation are straining systems in addition to average volume increases
- Cross-asset strategies including crypto are increasing complexity: 24/7 digital markets are being integrated into quantitative workflows, adding new data sources and volatility profiles to existing infrastructure
- Preserving competitive latency is increasingly challenging: Rising data volumes, bursts of high volumes of traffic and expanding market coverage make it harder for firms to maintain their relative latency position, particularly during periods of volatility.
“Volatility has been an ever-present factor in global markets since 2020 and this is presenting both significant opportunity and also challenges for quant firms,” said Ross Lancaster, Head of Research at Acuiti. “This research suggests that firms are increasingly missing opportunities not because of strategy, but because their infrastructure cannot absorb today’s volumes and structural complexity.”
David Taylor, CEO of Exegy, said: “Traditional systems designed for more predictable market conditions perform poorly in markets that react instantly and trade continuously. Our report confirms that market data infrastructure is a persistent challenge, and firms recognize the need to invest to compete in modern markets. Provisioning for peak capacity in the next three to five years not only assures stability but also delivers consistent performance in high volume and high opportunity market conditions.”
Latency remains a critical competitive factor for firms, with 86% of respondents stating that it is important to their trading strategies. However, the study finds that maintaining relative latency under peak load conditions is becoming more difficult in the wake of expanding market coverage and rising data volumes.
The full whitepaper, 2026 State of Trading Infrastructure: How Structural Shifts Are Redefining Market Data and Trading at Quantitative Firms, is available to download at https://hubs.li/Q040j8s60.
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For more information, contact Hena Hadi at Acuiti
Tel.: +44 (0) 203 998 9687
Email: henahadi@acuiti.io
OR
John Norris at Moonlight IQ
Email: exegy@moonlightiq.com
About Acuiti
Acuiti is a management intelligence platform designed to provide Senior Industry Professionals in the Derivatives Industry with high-value insight into industry-wide performance and business operations. Acuiti provides a platform through which our exclusive network of Senior Industry Executives can share and source information on day-to-day operational challenges, providing them and their management teams with increased transparency and in-depth analysis to make more informed decisions and benchmark company performance. Financial Institutions benefiting from our services include Banks, Non-bank FCMs, Brokers, Proprietary Trading Firms, Hedge Funds and Asset Managers.
About Exegy
Exegy provides high-performance market data and trading infrastructure to the world’s most demanding capital markets firms. Our platforms are designed to help firms process, distribute, and act on market data with deterministic performance, even as volumes, volatility, and market complexity continue to rise.
Drawing on deep expertise across software, FPGA acceleration, and managed services, Exegy delivers architectures that support the full spectrum of latency requirements—from ultra-low latency strategies to broader cross-asset workflows—on a unified technology stack. Recent deployments have demonstrated significant infrastructure efficiency gains, including reductions in server footprint of up to 47%, while preserving performance under peak load.
Exegy works closely with clients across quantitative trading, brokerage, and global banking to ensure infrastructure evolves in step with changing market structure, regulatory requirements, and trading strategies. With a focus on reliability, scalability, and operational simplicity, Exegy helps firms treat market data infrastructure as a strategic capability rather than an operational constraint.