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Balancing Cost, Latency, and Capacity: Network Optimisation for High-Frequency Trading


Tarrin Curtis

07/05/2026

Supervised by Richard Booth; Moderated by Alexia Zoumpoulaki

High-frequency trading (HFT) firms rely on colocated servers to minimise latency when sending orders to exchanges. However, leasing cross-connects and maintaining multiple links across the globe can be costly. Firms must carefully balance trade-offs between latency, bandwidth, and financial cost when designing their network. This project formalises the network design problem as a combinatorial optimisation task: selecting which cross-connects to lease and routing expected order flows to maximise total expected profit, while respecting latency and bandwidth constraints.


Initial Plan (30/01/2026) [Zip Archive]

Final Report (07/05/2026) [Zip Archive]

Publication Form