Ping and order round trip are not the same number

[Amanhasnoname]

A ping of 12 milliseconds sounds excellent, but an order does not travel the same path. It has to be processed by the platform, sent through the broker's gateway, checked against risk rules, matched with liquidity, and confirmed back.

That chain can take 50 to 300 milliseconds even with a fast connection, and the biggest delay is often on the broker side. Ping measures only the network leg, which is a small part of the full process.

A better measure is the time between sending an order and receiving the fill confirmation. Some platforms show it in the journal, and logging it across a few hundred trades gives a more honest picture.

When comparing brokers or VPS providers, the round trip is the number that matters. A broker with a slightly worse ping but a leaner order-handling system can beat a closer one with slow processing.

It also shows how the delay varies. Median numbers look fine, but the slowest 5 percent of fills often cause the worst slippage, and that tail is easy to miss.

What is the median and worst-case order round trip on your setup?