Low-Latency Binary Order Entry
For market makers and latency-sensitive strategies, Senticore exposes a binary order-entry mode inside the Market Maker API with lower overhead than JSON or FIX.
Restricted access
The binary mode is restricted to qualified institutional market-maker clients. Credential issuance requires onboarding and explicit risk acknowledgement.
Why binary
| Concern | Binary | FIX | HTTP JSON |
|---|---|---|---|
| Encoding overhead | Lowest | Medium | Highest |
| Parser CPU cost | Lowest | Medium | Highest |
| Garbage collection pressure | Lowest | Medium | Highest |
| Tooling | Custom client | Standard | Universal |
| Best for | HFT and MM | Institutional | Apps and retail |
Protocol shape
Messages use a fixed-header plus variable-payload layout, little-endian encoded, framed by length prefix. Full message specifications are issued to qualified clients during onboarding.
| Frame element | Width | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 4 bytes | Total message length excluding header |
| Message type | 2 bytes | Tagged enum |
| Flags | 2 bytes | Reserved for feature negotiation |
| Sequence | 8 bytes | Monotonic per session |
| Timestamp | 8 bytes | Client send time |
| Payload | Variable | Type-specific payload |
Supported messages
| Direction | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Client to server | Logon | Session establishment with signed challenge |
| Client to server | NewOrder | Place order |
| Client to server | CancelOrder | Cancel by client order id |
| Client to server | ReplaceOrder | Atomic cancel-replace |
| Client to server | BulkOrder | Quote refresh for market makers |
| Server to client | Ack | Accepted into gateway path |
| Server to client | ExecReport | Order state change or fill |
| Server to client | Reject | Pre-trade reject |
| Bidirectional | Heartbeat | Liveness |
Performance characteristics
The binary path is designed for:
- single-digit microsecond client-side serialization
- TCP
NODELAY - no application-level message buffering
- deterministic gap recovery through sequence numbers
- co-location or low-latency-zone deployment for sub-millisecond strategies
Requirements for access
Binary credentials are issued after:
- Institutional onboarding.
- Infrastructure and connectivity review.
- Volume or quoting commitment.
- Signed risk acknowledgement.