Ping is the number everyone quotes, jitter is the one that hurts
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2026 4:05 pm
Ping is the number everyone quotes, jitter is the one that hurts
A connection with a steady 35 millisecond ping is better for scalping than one averaging 15 with spikes to 400. Average ping hides exactly the thing that matters.
Jitter is the variation from one packet to the next. A smooth line means orders arrive predictably. A jagged line means some orders sail through and others sit in limbo, usually at the worst times, since busy markets also bring busy networks.
Testing this takes ten minutes. Run a continuous ping to the broker server for an hour during a busy session and look at the maximum and the spread of values, not just the mean. Better still, log it over several days and compare quiet and active periods.
Many home connections look fine on a speed test and fall apart on jitter, especially in the evenings when the neighbourhood is streaming video.
A practical way to track it: run a ping with timestamps to a log file for a whole trading day, then plot the distribution. A clean connection shows a tight cluster. A problematic one shows a long tail, with a few spikes that line up with the times trades went wrong.
Has a jitter test ever revealed a problem that an ordinary speed test missed?
A connection with a steady 35 millisecond ping is better for scalping than one averaging 15 with spikes to 400. Average ping hides exactly the thing that matters.
Jitter is the variation from one packet to the next. A smooth line means orders arrive predictably. A jagged line means some orders sail through and others sit in limbo, usually at the worst times, since busy markets also bring busy networks.
Testing this takes ten minutes. Run a continuous ping to the broker server for an hour during a busy session and look at the maximum and the spread of values, not just the mean. Better still, log it over several days and compare quiet and active periods.
Many home connections look fine on a speed test and fall apart on jitter, especially in the evenings when the neighbourhood is streaming video.
A practical way to track it: run a ping with timestamps to a log file for a whole trading day, then plot the distribution. A clean connection shows a tight cluster. A problematic one shows a long tail, with a few spikes that line up with the times trades went wrong.
Has a jitter test ever revealed a problem that an ordinary speed test missed?