incredible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_k_elbBz8c
Background from their website
A Nanex Order Routing Animation showing 1/100th of a second of trading in the stock of Merck (symbol MRK, market cap: $140 Billion) on May 16, 2013. Time is slowed down by a factor of about 40,000.
Pay close attention to the prices in the box at 9 o'clock: the top line shows the exchange and price of the National Best Offer, the bottom line shows the exchange and price of the National Best Bid. Note how often it locks (bid price equals ask price) and even crosses (bid price greater than ask price) which regulations (Reg NMS) "strongly discourage".
Each box represents one exchange. The consolidated feed (CQS in this case) is the box at 9 o'clock. It shows the National Best Bid/Offer. The shapes represent trades (circles) and quotes changes at the top of the book at each exchange. The time at the bottom of the screen is Eastern Time HH:MM:SS:mmm (mmm = millisecond). We slow time down so you can see what goes on at the millisecond level. A millisecond (ms) is 1/1000th of a second.
In 1/100th of a second (10 ms), light (and therefore information) travels just 1,860 miles (3000 km) under ideal conditions. In reality it takes a bit longer, for example, it takes about 30 ms for information to travel from New York to California (2,400). Which means by the time a computer in California received the first quote shown in this animation, the last quote had been canceled 20 milliseconds earlier. When computers in London received the first quote, the last quote had been canceled about 30 milliseconds earlier.
The average camera shutter speed is 8 ms. One frame of a Hollywood film lasts about 40 ms. The average human eye-to-hand reaction time is 215 ms
