An uptime report can show that trading infrastructure remained available while leaving an execution problem unexplained. A connection may stay active while order responses slow or a price stream stops updating as expected.

For established brokerages, the immediate difficulty is locating the problem and deciding whether intervention is necessary. An availability figure cannot provide that explanation unless its measurement explicitly captures the affected behaviour.

We recommend assessing availability alongside order response times, pricing updates and processing capacity. Together, these measures provide a more useful basis for investigating incidents and planning growth.

Establishing what the figures measure

Availability depends on how the service and its success criteria are defined. Google’s reliability guidance treats availability, latency and throughput as distinct service indicators.

A component health check establishes whether that component responds. An order response measurement establishes how long a specified part of processing takes. Neither result should be interpreted beyond its measurement boundary.

Brokers should document where each measurement starts and ends, which failures it includes and how results are aggregated.

This becomes important when reviewing delayed orders. Internal processing time and the external round trip cover different stages. Comparing them directly can lead an investigation towards the wrong cause.

Averages also need context. Google’s monitoring guidance explains how average latency can conceal a slow tail of requests. It notes that performance can deteriorate before resources reach full utilisation.

Our recommendation is to review response-time distributions by relevant instrument, route and trading period. Short periods of deterioration should remain visible alongside monthly summaries.

Changes in the mix of orders also deserve examination. A different combination of instruments or order sizes can change aggregate results. That alone does not establish that infrastructure performance changed.

Testing capacity and investigating exceptions

Capacity testing should reflect the activity the brokerage expects its infrastructure to support.

We recommend testing a representative combination of orders, amendments, cancellations and price updates, with supporting processes enabled. Results should show whether agreed response-time requirements remain achievable as demand increases.

Bursts of activity deserve separate attention. If processing falls behind, the test should establish how long recovery takes and what happens to incoming activity.

This gives expansion planning a specific test. Expected growth in client flow or instrument coverage can be assessed against demonstrated performance.

When production performance breaches an agreed tolerance, the investigation should follow the observable stages of processing. Relevant records include order receipt, internal processing, external responses and the result returned to the trading platform.

Pricing records and configuration changes can help establish what happened around the same time. Gaps in the evidence should remain explicit.

The response should follow the findings. Changing an external route would not resolve a delay occurring before the order reached it. After intervention, the affected measurements should be reviewed again to establish whether the problem was resolved.

Connecting the evidence to brokerage operations

We position Your Bourse as a technology partner that understands brokerage business. In this context, that means connecting infrastructure information to the decisions brokerage teams need to make.

Our Monitoring & Logs provides system and trade records, alongside pricing, execution and rejection alerts. Our Data Warehouse & Open API brings together data from trading platforms, liquidity providers and matching engines, with raw data access and reporting capabilities.

These capabilities can support investigations across connected parts of the trading environment. Their application should reflect the brokerage’s liquidity arrangements, execution model and operating requirements.

A useful performance review should establish which service was affected, what the records demonstrated and whether the response resolved the issue. Those findings can inform configuration decisions and identify requirements for further testing.

Uptime remains part of that assessment. Evidence of performance while infrastructure remains online gives brokers an additional basis for evaluating whether their setup supports current activity and planned growth.

Book a demo with Your Bourse to discuss execution monitoring and reporting requirements: https://bit.ly/4i2985G