Digital Asset ATS with Custody Integration for a US Startup May 25, 2026 About the client The client is a US-based startup founded by professionals from traditional finance. The company operates an alternative trading system (ATS) that provides access to digital assets for both buy-side and sell-side participants. Its model also includes tokenization of traditional assets such as fixed income, equities, and real estate, with support for fractional ownership. Business challenge The client needed to build a trading platform for accredited individual and institutional traders, with the following requirements: Order execution through an integrated matching engine Pre-trade risk controls A high-performance order management system Integration with an investor portal and digital custodians Support for tokenized assets and fractional trading Compliance with regulatory reporting requirements The system had to operate within a broader ecosystem that included onboarding (KYC/AML), custody, and asset servicing. Solution Devexperts delivered a solution with three parts: a core platform (matching engine, OMS, user interface, and admin tools), system integrations, and trading features tailored to the client’s requirements. Core platform Matching engine A lightweight version of the DXmatch matching engine was embedded into the order management system rather than deployed as a separate service. This reduced infrastructure overhead while maintaining execution performance. Order management system (OMS) The OMS handles order routing and processing across multiple asset classes within a single environment. User interface The DXtrade web trading terminal was adapted to support client-specific workflows and extended trade data from the matching engine. Administrative interfaces A real-time risk monitoring interface for operators A configuration interface for instruments, users, commissions, and integrations Integrations Custodian integration The system was designed to support multiple custodians with potentially different transaction lifecycles. For this purpose, we’ve built a custodian bridge that reports transaction settlement status to the OMS in a standardized way, while the actual settlement process may differ between custodians. Transaction settlement included locking funds and assets on both sides of the trade, accounting for commissions and settlement fees (so-called gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain), and reporting the final transaction status once both assets and funds had been transferred to the respective counterparty. An integration with a transfer agent module was built to additionally control whether the trader was allowed to sell a desired amount of the asset. Pricing and reporting The system included a pricing gateway that calculated the prospective cost of a trade for a given asset, including commissions and gas fees. DXtrade’s commission engine supports flexible fee structures (percentage-based, flat rate, BPS), configurable by client group and instrument. Trade fees are applied as part of the settlement process. Finally, a special module was built to query up-to-date gas fees for the given blockchain/custodian in near real time. All trades and all orders standing in the book were reported in real time to platform users and external 3rd parties via the API. Historical trade data was aggregated and displayed in a chart widget of the trader’s UI. Transactions in both final and non-final statuses were reported in real time and at the end of the day to the 3rd parties for internal accounting and for regulatory purposes. To comply with regulatory requirements, trade data was reported via a FIX drop copy connection in real time. Investor portal integration A separate website aimed at client onboarding (including KYC and AML verification processes) and initial asset listing was integrated with the DXtrade platform via the standard DXtrade REST API, allowing the creation of client accounts and enabling real-time trading. The platform supports SSO, enabling seamless access between the investor portal and the trading terminal without requiring multiple logins. The investor portal integrates with a transfer agent, ensuring that end users pass all required checks before being allowed to trade on the platform. Trading features Instruments ERC-20 and ERC-1400 security tokens Trading against stablecoins and fiat (USD) Order types Limit orders only Supported time-in-force: GTC, Day, GTD, IOC Pre-trade validation Ensures sufficient assets and funds Prevents double-spending Pricing and market data L1 and L2 quotes Trade data for risk control and display Historical price aggregation USD conversion for portfolio valuation User notifications Users receive email notifications through: Localized messages: DXtrade sends notifications to the investor portal, which maps user IDs and determines delivery. Direct API access: The investor portal retrieves real-time updates and lost messages using the DXtrade notification API and FIX API. Result The platform was delivered and launched on schedule, giving the client a functioning trading venue for digital assets and tokenized instruments. More importantly, it established the operational foundation required for an ATS: controlled onboarding, validated trading, and consistent post-trade processing across custodians. By integrating execution, risk checks, custody workflows, and reporting into a single system, the client avoided the need to build and maintain multiple disconnected components. This reduced operational overhead and simplified day-to-day processes, including trade validation, settlement tracking, and regulatory reporting. The architecture also supports the client’s business model around tokenized assets. Fractional ownership, fee handling, and settlement logic are aligned with how these instruments are issued and transferred, enabling the platform to handle both traditional and tokenized assets in a single environment. Outcomes: Stable execution and order handling through the integrated OMS and matching engine Standardized settlement across multiple custodians with different lifecycles Real-time and end-of-day reporting aligned with regulatory requirements Integrated onboarding and trading experience through SSO System design supports adding new assets, custodians, and user groups without restructuring
Matching Engine for a Top Indonesian Crypto Exchange August 7, 2023 About the Client The client is one of the first and largest crypto exchanges in Indonesia, facilitating the buying and selling of crypto assets. Founded in 2014, the client’s mission is to make crypto markets accessible to everyone. Their platform currently enables 5+ million traders to engage in the trading of various crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and more. Business Challenge The client was looking to enhance their exchange platform’s throughput by a substantial margin. The roadmap required enhanced scalability and performance to accommodate the desired trading volume expansion. Specifically, the system needed to efficiently process a peak load of 10,000+ orders per second. However, the client’s existing software was incapable of handling such a high load. In their search for a suitable solution, the client came across Devexperts, who offered DXmatch as a pre-existing technology designed to address the aforementioned challenge. Solution DXmatch is an advanced software solution with a comprehensive array of features such as a matching engine, reliable market data delivery, storage capabilities, risk controls, and WebSocket and REST APIs. Notably, DXmatch demonstrates a prominent emphasis on low latency and high throughput. Thanks to its system design, DXmatch scales horizontally, linearly adding more computational power with each new matching segment added to the array. Scaling DXmatch with multi-matching engine segments To help the client, the Devexperts team: Deployed the DXmatch software within the client’s infrastructure. Provided training on effective system operation to the client’s personnel. Offered necessary consulting during the integration process. It is noteworthy to mention that the DXmatch software required no customization. It immediately fulfilled its intended purpose and seamlessly integrated with the client’s ecosystem. Our client + DXmatch integration “It’s fantastic to see how the client is using the vanilla product, without any customization, along with the documentation on how to operate the system, to achieve their goal of ultra low latency and high burstable throughput on GCP. It brings me great joy to witness how seamlessly our DXmatch ‘just works’ for users on the other side of the world, without needing our control, maintenance, and support”. — Sergey Samushin, Head of Delivery Unit He also added that: “On the first trading day the system has already processed over 10M orders, and 1.1M orders are working in order books!” Results Working closely with the client, the Devexperts team managed to deliver a scalable and flexible solution within a few months. All project goals, including desired performance, reliability, and security characteristics, were met successfully. The move solidified the client’s position as a leading crypto exchange in the Asian region and provided a strong technological foundation from which to continue the expansion of its customer base. “Our client possesses a genuine passion for this asset class, and they have an indescribable zeal to help spread it across the region in a professional, trusted, and regulated manner. They’ve been around since the very early days of crypto, and they also witnessed the evolution of exchange tech. So we’re happy they recognized the maturity of our systems. And now, we’re eager to help them grow”. — Michael Babushkin, CEO of Devexperts “This upgrade solidifies our promise to continue to invest in the very best technologies to provide our traders with a truly first class service. We aim to spread crypto literacy across the nation, and to be the venue of choice in the Asia-Pacific region. We’re happy to have Devexperts joining us on this journey”. — Co-founder and CEO, the client
Building and Launching a US-Regulated Futures and Options Exchange from the Ground Up January 19, 2021 About the Client The Client is a futures and options exchange launched in 2020 in the US. It aims to bridge the product gap for investors of all sizes by offering smaller and simpler futures and options products. It facilitates the trading of exchange-created proprietary products for all types of market participants, including market makers/liquidity providers, introducing brokers (IBs), futures commission merchants (FCMs), proprietary trading firms, and hedge funds, with a primary focus on public retail customers. The exchange is a registered Designated Contract Market (DCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Challenge The project’s concept originated from its founders’ desire to create an exchange focused directly on its customers. Its core objective is to bridge the futures and options product gap for all types of retail investors by providing smaller, capital-efficient products that are simple to use and easy to understand. To put this idea into practice, the Client required a specific technology with sophisticated reporting, risk management tools (price banding, kill switches, real-time exposure control, etc.), and consistent sub-millisecond latency for socket-to-socket FIX message processing. In order to launch, the exchange also had to be integrated with the Options Clearing Corporation, surveillance systems, and the NFA. The exchange was set to offer cash-settled contracts based on proprietary indices with multiple constituents, so it needed a partner providing market data and with index construction, real-time maintenance, administration, and calculation services. Solution Devexperts has a long and distinguished track record of developing software solutions for the financial industry, establishing a reputation for itself as a trusted technology provider and partner. To meet the Client’s challenge of creating an exchange from the ground up, Devexperts had a matching engine ready for deployment and numerous connectivity developments in store. Devexperts also offered dxFeed services. dxFeed is Devexpert’s subsidiary company specializing in market data delivery and services. The subsidiary had previously completed index development projects for two US exchanges, accumulating the expertise required to provide the Client with proprietary indices. The Client was well aware of Devexpert’s skills, experience, and capacity and therefore entrusted it with developing the exchange. The Client also handed over the construction of indices and market data distribution to dxFeed. Project timeline Development start Fall 2017 Datacenter setup Fall 2018 CFTC approval Early 2020 Soft launch Early 2020 Official exchange launch Summer 2020 Hardware Devexperts consulted the Client on hardware selection, ensuring the exchange complies with all industry standards and their expectations. The exchange was rolled out on privately owned and operated hardware close to bare metal. The technology fully utilizes the modern hardware stack: multi-core and multi-socket CPUs and high-performance DMA network cards. Connectivity Devexperts implemented a trading FIX API and a drop copy FIX API for brokers and market makers. It is a clear and standard solution used across US exchanges as a best practice that provides ~100-microsecond end-to-end latency (from the moment an order is received up to the push back of an execution report). Devexperts also equipped the exchange with specially designed security measures in case connectivity is involuntarily lost. Clearing Devexperts integrated the exchange with the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) through a real-time trade stream with a periodic data export. OCC provides it with a full range of clearing and risk management services. Market data delivery For market data delivery, Devexperts developed a proprietary, high-performance binary market data protocol over User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Market data is published in a simple binary encoding (SBE) format, prompting faster and concise data delivery. In addition to the low latency UDP, Devexperts implemented a simple Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) that is easier to consume for retail integration. This protocol was implemented upon QD, the open-source message bus Devexperts developed. This enabled integration with various pre-existing systems: market data viewers, charting, etc. For worldwide market data distribution, the Client employed dxFeed for its redundancy setups, diverse presence points, and failproof and resilient infrastructure designed with a target uptime goal of 99.99%. Matching engine The exchange’s core is the Devexperts matching engine. Devexperts implemented it as a clustered, replicated state machine with the help of RAFT distributed consensus protocol. The sophisticated design relies on high-performance data structures and employs the event sourcing architectural model. Its interconnect API is based on reliable Aeron UDP transport, and messages are based on SBE. The Devexperts matching engine has the following functionality, which can be expanded on demand: Order Types: Limit, Stop, Stop Limit, and Market An anonymous FIFO (first in, first out) execution algorithm based on price-time priority Time in Force: DAY, GTC, FOK, and IOC Market States: Pre-open (Opening Auction), Open, Paused, Halted, and Closed Opening auction has two different phases: all orders are accepted or cancels are not accepted. During the auction, books may cross and matching does not happen. Once the auction is over and equilibrium opening prices are determined, regular trading opens. Risk management tools such as a firm-based kill switch, exposure limits, soft and hard price limits, configurable self-match prevention, and price banding Implied Matching and Pricing: 1st level Both for single and multi-leg direct orders received by market participants, the matching engine generates implied orders. It supports implied matching, meaning it shows live bids and offers in one order book by using an algorithm that relies on bids and offers from other related order books. Order modification and cancellation Multi-leg strategies support Trade busts and corrections Market summary calculation and distribution Mass operations support: order cancellation and expiration Support for running multiple matching engine segments to ensure the solution is able to scale horizontally with more products The matching engine provides ~100-microsecond end-to-end latency. By the end of 2020, the exchange processed over eight million orders per day. To top that, Devexperts set up authentication and authorization through REST API for user and group management with cluster support. Admin application Devexperts built an admin application available to market participants and the Client’s staff that allows them to view orders, trades, market data, risk parameters, current exposure, as well as manage day-to-day operations and parameters. The admin application is built over REST API and has an advanced permission scheme. Data warehouse and reporting The exchange stores all events in a central database. This design enables the Client to conduct full audits and generate sophisticated reports for regulatory compliance purposes. These reports are also used for analyzing the exchange’s operations. Settlement The exchange has a module responsible for settling daily and expiring futures and options contracts. It uses a complex algorithm to calculate settlement prices and allows operators to review and publish them. Disaster recovery Devexperts also developed a protocol for disaster recovery. The protocol covers surveillance failovers, drop copy integrations with clearing houses, real-time and batch integration with the OCC and NFA, FIX integrations with participants, and market data distribution for participants. The exchange is equipped to survive a temporary datacenter failure and even a total loss, requiring only several hours to fully recover. Devexperts tested the disaster recovery protocol and approved it with CFTC. The event sourcing architecture also contributes to business continuity planning. Index construction The Client relied on dxFeed’s portfolio and contracted their services to construct proprietary indices across several industries. Results Devexperts and dxFeed developed the project from scratch, and it resulted in the exchange’s successful launch in 2020. By the end of 2020, it processed over eight million orders per day. Throughout the course of development, Devexperts was able to meet the following challenges: Selecting and installing hardware compliant with industry standards and the client’s expectations Connectivity via FIX APIs Integration with the Options Clearing Corporation Market data delivery via numerous protocols, including proprietary high-performance binary market data protocol Market data distribution via dxFeed’s infrastructure A matching engine implemented as a clustered, replicated state machine with the help of RAFT distributed consensus protocol. Its design relies on high-performance data structures and employs the event sourcing architectural model, contributing to security measures. Authentication and authorization through REST API for user and group management with cluster support Development of an admin application available to market participants and the Client’s staff with an advanced permission scheme Data warehousing and audit reporting, along with the ability to generate sophisticated reports for regulatory compliance purposes Configuration of a module responsible for settling daily and expiring futures and options contracts Business continuity planning Construction of proprietary indices across several industries. Looking for something similar? Here you can find more details and reach out to us.
Energy Futures Dark Pool Developed for a Canadian Broker April 4, 2019 About the customer The Customer provides marketplace and exchange software across all derivative markets, Futures and Options, Financial and Bi-lateral OTC. The software enables business customers to maximize the financial and operational benefits of electronic commerce. Market participants working on the client’s platform can manage orders themselves, or through the use of voice trading. Business challenge The Customer’s business included a voice brokerage in the energy sector, where the contracts made over the voice trading service were settled by a physical delivery. While trading was done outside of an exchange, the block trades made in the system still needed to be registered with regulation authorities. Devexperts was approached to create a solution that would automate voice brokerage services to increase the number of brokers working with the Customer, scale the business by establishing an online terminal and make the Customer’s services available to a larger audience. Solution Devexperts came up with a solution that became a natural ecosystem for traders, brokers, clearers and exchanges. The developers took ready-made components of DXOMS and the DXtrade Enterprise Desktop trading terminal, and added a matching engine built from scratch. The trading and execution on the platform went via its proprietary order flow, matching engine and central limit order book (CLOB). The solution was a dark pool, that matched trades and submitted them to a clearing house. It supported day orders for commodity futures and options, custom structures, calendar spreads, multi-leg trading, as well as local and external markets. It could handle single and spread orders (with up to 40 legs) for CME and ICE futures and options instruments through the platform’s GUI application or an inbound FIX connection. The on-suite offerings included Energy Trade and Risk Management (ETRM) and workflow admin controls. The system was compliant with the specifics of the business model. It allowed for post trading management; self-clearing, external clearing, and different broker roles. The Customer could effortlessly configure new contracts, list new Bi-lateral products and add new clients. In addition, it offered anonymous transparent routing and order display for ICE, CME, LCH, NODAL, NASDAQ all clearers and the OTC Bi-Lateral Markets. Results The solution was launched in Canada for a broker focused on oil and natural gas futures trading for leading companies such as Shell, BP, Chevron, requiring a physical settlement of contracts. It was made available to up to 5000 users and supported hundreds of orders per day placed by high net worth individuals, suppliers and consumers of commodities. The order processing time was less than one sub-millisecond on average.
