What is Latency?
Quick answer
Latency is the delay between an event and the response to it, here between a leader placing a trade and the matching order reaching your account. Lower latency means the copy is closer in time, and often in price, to the original. RelayTrades typically routes copied orders within about a second, though fills still depend on your broker and market conditions.
Latency is the lag in a system. In copy trading, it is the time it takes for a leader’s trade to become a matching order in your account, and it affects how closely your result tracks theirs.
What latency means
Every step, detecting the leader’s trade, sizing your order, checking your limits, and routing it to your broker, takes some time. The total is the latency. Lower latency means your copied order is placed sooner after the original, so the price you get is more likely to be close to the leader’s. Higher latency gives the market more time to move in between. Some latency is unavoidable, and broker processing and market speed add to it.
Why it matters in copy trading
Lower latency helps your fill track the leader’s more closely, which matters most on fast-moving instruments where prices change quickly. RelayTrades typically routes copied orders within about a second, but even then the market can move and slippage can occur, and the final fill depends on your broker and conditions. Latency is one factor in how closely a copy matches the original, alongside spread and liquidity.
Frequently asked questions
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