Low-latency AES encryption for High-Frequency Trading on FPGA

Abstract

This paper presents a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) powered low–latency solution for secure communication with the stock exchange. It presents architecture design and optimization techniques used to ensure the required security level without impacting the latency, which is the most critical domain in High-Frequency Trading (HFT). The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) chose Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with 256 bit key length in Galoise-Counter Mode (GCM) as the encryption algorithm for Non-NEAT Front End (NNF) connections.