Usage of passive testing tools for certification of trading systems clients

The life cycle of exchange and brokerage software development, along with verification of functional and technical characteristics of the system, includes a mandatory stage of integration testing called clients certification. The stage is designed to ensure the compatibility of automated trading systems which are connected by means of financial protocols (such as FIX/FAST, ITCH, or specialized binary access interfaces) to an exchange or a broker. The article presents a bespoke tool developed to verify the compatibility of trading systems. The distinctive feature of the tool is a unified way of supporting multiple protocols. The article also provides a few examples of using the tool in self-certification of trading participants and during large-scale migrations of trading platforms.