# exchange-connectivity

Guides trading venue connectivity design, FIX session mechanics, and market data architecture. Useful when implementing low-latency protocols or Rule 15c3-5 risk checks.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 671 installs · ★ 218
- Author: JoelLewis
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/JoelLewis/finance_skills/tree/HEAD/plugins/trading-operations/skills/exchange-connectivity/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-07-18
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/exchange-connectivity

## What it does

This skill details trading infrastructure for Direct Market Access (DMA) and sponsored access. It explains FIX session layer mechanics across versions 4.2, 4.4, and FIXT 1.1, focusing on message sequencing, gap recovery, and core messages like Logon (`MsgType=A`), Logout (`MsgType=5`), and Heartbeat (`MsgType=0`).

It covers proprietary binary protocols including Nasdaq OUCH and ITCH, Cboe PITCH and BOE, and NYSE Pillar. The guidelines also address physical hosting options such as co-location in Carteret or Mahwah, financial extranets like TNS or IPC Connexus, and carrier-redundant failover routes.

Order state machines and execution report tracking are handled separately in `order-lifecycle`. For sponsored access setups, SEC Rule 15c3-5 mandates pre-trade risk controls, which removes the option of unfiltered direct routing.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill exchange-connectivity -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/exchange-connectivity/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/exchange-connectivity/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill exchange-connectivity -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/exchange-connectivity/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill exchange-connectivity -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/exchange-connectivity/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install JoelLewis/finance_skills exchange-connectivity
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/exchange-connectivity/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill exchange-connectivity -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/JoelLewis/finance_skills --path plugins/trading-operations/skills/exchange-connectivity
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/exchange-connectivity/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add JoelLewis/finance_skills --skill exchange-connectivity -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/JoelLewis/finance_skills/tree/HEAD/plugins/trading-operations/skills/exchange-connectivity/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- configure FIX session management and sequence number gap recovery
- integrate binary trading protocols such as OUCH, ITCH, PITCH, or Pillar
- design market data feeds comparing consolidated SIP to direct feeds
- enforce SEC Rule 15c3-5 pre-trade market access controls
- architect redundant failover paths and co-location infrastructure

## Example prompts
- How should I handle FIX sequence gap recovery when receiving an out-of-order Logon?
- Draft pre-trade risk checks compliant with SEC Rule 15c3-5 for a DMA gateway
- Compare direct ITCH feed parsing requirements against consolidated SIP feeds

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: b4f2c342edd3deb6.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE b4f2c342edd3deb6
```text
---
name: exchange-connectivity
description: "Guide the design and management of trading venue connectivity and market data infrastructure. Owns the FIX session layer (logon, heartbeats, sequence number gaps, resend and gap recovery, disconnects). Use when building or troubleshooting FIX sessions for order routing or drop copy, integrating exchange protocols like OUCH, ITCH, PITCH, or Pillar, designing market data feed architecture (consolidated SIP vs direct feeds), handling trading halts or circuit breakers or LULD bands, planning co-location or failover and disaster recovery for exchange connectivity, implementing Rule 15c3-5 market access controls, or mapping symbology across venues and data sources. For order state machines and execution-report handling see order-lifecycle."
---

# Exchange Connectivity

## Core Concepts

### Venue Connectivity Architecture
Trading venues expose electronic interfaces through which broker-dealers, market makers, and institutional participants submit orders and receive execution reports. The connectivity architecture between a firm and its execution venues is a foundational component of trading infrastructure.

**Direct Market Access (DMA):** DMA allows a firm to send orders directly to an exchange's matching engine without intermediation by another broker's order management system. The firm maintains its own FIX session (or proprietary protocol connection) with the exchange and is responsible for pre-trade risk controls. DMA is used by broker-dealers with exchange memberships and by proprietary trading firms.

**Sponsored Access:** In a sponsored access arrangement, a non-member firm routes orders to an exchange through a sponsoring broker-dealer's market participant identifier (MPID). The sponsoring broker is responsible for pre-trade risk controls under SEC Rule 15c3-5 (the Market Access Rule). Sponsored access may be "filtered" (orders pass through the sponsor's risk checks before reaching the exchange) or "unfiltered" (orders bypass the sponsor's systems and go directly to the exchange, with the sponsor relying on exchange-level risk controls). The SEC effectively prohibited unfiltered sponsored access through Rule 15c3-5, which requires the broker-dealer providing market access to implement risk management controls and supervisory procedures that are reasonably designed to prevent the entry of erroneous orders.
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE b4f2c342edd3deb6

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the b4f2c342edd3deb6 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 2396 of 35498 bytes. © JoelLewis · MIT · https://github.com/JoelLewis/finance_skills/tree/HEAD/plugins/trading-operations/skills/exchange-connectivity/SKILL.md

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