stop blaming python for your execution lag when your server is physically located in the wrong timezone
u/Henry_old ·
Reddit — r/algotrading
· May 13, 2026 at 22:36
· ⬆ 18 pts
· 💬 11 comments
| View on Reddit ↗
AI Summary
Summary
The author argues that retail algo traders waste time optimizing code (Python→Rust/C) when the dominant factor is network latency from server location vs exchange matching engines.
Thesis: Institutional advantage comes from physical colocation near exchange routers, not code speed; retail should focus on geographic proximity before rewriting code.
Quality assessment: Opinion/commentary (no data cited), speculative generalization about latency physics.
Score18
Comments11
Upvote %78%
▶ Full Post Text
see so many retail quants wasting months rewriting their python logic in rust or c to save half a millisecond of execution time. your code speed is completely irrelevant if you are running the bot on a standard cloud instance in ohio while the matching engine is in tokyo or new jersey. speed of light dictates network latency. if your tcp handshake takes 50 milliseconds your optimized binary does not matter at all. institutional money pays for physical server colocation right next to the exchange routers. you are losing to physics not to the python gil. focus on moving your docker containers physically closer to the exchange api endpoints before you rewrite your entire codebase