FIX protocol
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The Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol is an electronic communications protocol developed for international real-time exchange of securities transactions in the finance markets.
A company called FIX Protocol, Ltd. established for this purpose maintains and owns the specification, while keeping it in the public domain.
FIX is used by both the buy side (institutions) as well as the sell side (brokers/dealers) of the financial markets. Among its users are mutual funds such as Putnam Investments as well as large investment banks such as J.P. Morgan or Deutsche Bank Securities. The FIX protocol is also used by the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Australian Stock Exchange.
The Financial Information eXchange ("FIX") Protocol is a technical specification for electronic communication of trade-related messages. More precisely, the FIX Protocol is a series of messaging specifications developed through the collaboration of banks, broker-dealers, exchanges, industry utilities and associations, institutional investors, and information technology providers from around the world. These market participants share a vision of a common, global language for automated trading of securities, derivatives, and other financial instruments.
FIX is open and free, but is not software. Rather, FIX is a specification around which software developers can create commercial or open-source software, as they see fit. As the market's leading trade-communications protocol, FIX is integral to many order management and trading systems. Yet, its power is unobtrusive, as users of these systems can benefit from FIX without knowing the language itself.
Background
Since its inception in 1992 as a bilateral communications framework for equity trading between Fidelity Investments and Salomon Brothers, FIX has become the standard electronic protocol for pre-trade communications and trade execution. Today, the membership of FIX Protocol Limited ("FPL") is extending FIX into block-trade allocation and other phases of the trading process, in every market, for virtually every asset class.
External Links
- FIX Protocol Organization (http://www.fixprotocol.org/)
- QuickFIX (http://www.quickfixengine.org/) (An open source FIX engine)