Holding delays and the dealing plugin question
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 8:31 pm
Some brokers run a dealing plugin that holds an order for a small interval, a few hundred milliseconds in many cases, before passing it through. Officially it protects against stale prices. In practice, a hold of 300 milliseconds is a lifetime on a one-minute scalp.
The pattern that gives it away is consistent latency on certain order types. If market orders fill in 60 milliseconds, but orders during fast movement take nearly a full second, something in the chain is buffering them.
Test it properly: place small orders at fixed times during calm periods and again during fast ones, then compare the time between order send and fill confirmation. The platform journal shows both timestamps on most terminals.
A consistent delay that grows when price moves quickly is a bad sign. It suggests the broker is waiting to see which way price goes before deciding whether to honor the quote.
None of this proves bad intent, but a delay that appears only when it hurts deserves a conversation with support or a different broker.
How much delay between send and fill has been normal on your terminal, and has it changed over time?
The pattern that gives it away is consistent latency on certain order types. If market orders fill in 60 milliseconds, but orders during fast movement take nearly a full second, something in the chain is buffering them.
Test it properly: place small orders at fixed times during calm periods and again during fast ones, then compare the time between order send and fill confirmation. The platform journal shows both timestamps on most terminals.
A consistent delay that grows when price moves quickly is a bad sign. It suggests the broker is waiting to see which way price goes before deciding whether to honor the quote.
None of this proves bad intent, but a delay that appears only when it hurts deserves a conversation with support or a different broker.
How much delay between send and fill has been normal on your terminal, and has it changed over time?