Liquid Speed: A Micro-Burst Fee for Low-Latency Exchanges

Abstract

A micro-burst fee on liquidity-taking orders that surges during high-frequency races reduces costs associated with latency arbitrage. Moreover, micro-burst fees provide higher revenue for exchanges versus co-location subscriptions. Unlike co-location fees, micro-burst fees scale with trading activity and allow exchanges to extract higher revenues from HFTs. To ensure long-run adoption incentives for exchanges, a regulator should impose a cap on micro-burst fees; for example, a calibration suggests that liquidity improves with a micro-burst fee as low as 7.8 bps, while a Reg NMS cap on fees of 30 bps per share would improve liquidity by 75%.