News Latency: Information Travels, So Should You

In event-driven markets, a delay of seconds can invert your edge. News travels fast; your models need to keep pace.

Optimizing news ingestion and reaction paths ensures signals act on fresh information rather than stale headlines.

Why it matters

Slow news flow creates asymmetric information. Competitors reacting first capture alpha while laggards trade on leftovers.

Common mistakes

• Relying on a single vendor feed.
• Skipping latency measurement for news data.
• Letting strategies fire when feeds lag significantly.

Implementation steps

Use multiple feeds

Subscribe to redundant providers and compare arrival times.

Timestamp ingestion

Record when each headline hits to monitor delays.

Throttle on lag

Suspend or hedge strategies when news latency spikes.

LiquidityAI tie-in

• Feeds integrated with latency metrics.
• Policies pause trading when news delays breach limits.
• Dashboards visualize feed performance over time.

Case sketch (composite)

A macro strategy lost edge during data releases due to a slow feed. After adding a secondary provider and latency alerts, reactions sped up by 600ms, reclaiming event alpha.

Takeaways

• News latency directly impacts event-driven P&L.
• Redundant feeds and monitoring reduce blind spots.
• Throttle or hedge when information arrives late.

LiquidityAI provides tools and education for systematic trading. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Trading involves risk, including possible loss of principal.