Colocation in Trading: The Complete Guide
Why trading firms put servers next to matching engines, how colocation is priced and regulated, the data centers that matter in 2026 — and what cloud-hosted exchanges change.
Data Centers & Colocation
Exchange colocation and the data centers that host global trading: NY4, LD4, CME Aurora, Mahwah, Carteret, TY3 and exchange cloud migration.
Data Centers & Colocation: an overview
Colocation places a firm’s servers in the same building as an exchange matching engine. It is the foundation of every latency-sensitive business and a major line item in trading budgets.
We profile the facilities that matter, explain cross-connects and equal-length cabling, compare colocation with proximity hosting and cloud, and follow the exchanges now moving matching engines into private cloud regions.
Latest Data Centers & Colocation research
Browse all research Key concepts
- Cross-connect
- A dedicated physical cable linking two customers inside a data center, for example a firm and an exchange.
- Equal-length cabling
- Exchange practice of giving every colocated client cables of identical length so no one gains a physical edge.
- Proximity hosting
- Hosting near, but not inside, an exchange facility, typically one hop away.
Research roadmap
What we cover in Data Centers & Colocation
Our editorial plan for this section. Published guides are linked; the rest are in research.
- Live Colocation in Trading: The Complete Guide
- Soon NY4 Secaucus: Why It Matters for FX and Equities
- Soon The New Jersey Triangle: Mahwah, Carteret and Secaucus
- Soon CME Aurora: Inside the Center of Futures Trading
- Soon LD4 Slough: The Hub of European FX and Equities
- Soon Colocation in Asia: Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore
- Soon Colocation in Crypto: Where Exchange Matching Engines Live
- Soon Exchanges in the Cloud: CME, Google and the Future of Colocation
- Soon Trading VPS vs Colocation: What Latency You Really Get