BATS Global Markets

Remember, stocks trade on multiple venues simultaneously.

Apple shares trade on the NYSE, but also on NASDAQ, BATS, IEX, and various dark pools.

A price change on one venue creates an arbitrage opportunity across others.

So HFT firms need fast connections not just to one exchange, but between all of them.

Let's break this down step by step.

In the United States, the same stock trades simultaneously on multiple venues.

When you buy shares of Apple, your order might execute on the NYSE or NASDAQ or BATS.

or any of a dozen other platforms.