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Could anyone explain what the difference between FIX and FAST? When should one use FIX, and when should one use FAST?
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The FAST protocol (FIX Adapted for STreaming) is a technology standard developed by FIX Protocol Ltd., specifically aimed at optimizing data representation on the network. It is used to support high-throughput, low latency data communications between financial institutions.
The FIX protocol was originally developed in 1992 as a way for large equity trading companies to exchange information between broker-dealers and clients. FIX is now the messaging standard for the global equity markets, and is even expanding into foreign exchange, fixed income, and derivatives markets.
FIX has become the standard electronic protocol for pre-trade communications and trade execution. Although it is mainly used for equity transactions in the front office area, bond derivatives and FX-transactions are also possible.
There is currently no universal FIX interface to connect to crypto exchanges – each crypto exchange has its own, though not necessarily proprietary, communication standard. Lack of a standard communication protocol hinders participants' ability to easily access multiple exchanges.
From an equities trading perspective, FAST is more widely used for market data dissemination, where message rates are much higher. FIX is the protocol of choice for interoperability between firms, and often internal systems as well, although different implementations can vary widely in the specific messages & attributes used.
Brokers and trading venues will generally offer order entry via some flavour of FIX, and offer a complementary native binary protocol for the most performance-sensitive clients or specialised features. The FIX interface is often just a wrapper around the native one, with an more limited set of message types and parameters.
A good example of this is the London Stock Exchange, with offers FIX 5.0 for order entry, along with their own low-latency native protocol. For market data they offer a combination of FAST and ITCH, although even using FAST, the full-depth market data feed isn't available to subscribers, and requires ITCH, as described here
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FAST(FIX Adapted for STreaming) is FIX only, but customised to send across data more quickly, because of the huge increase in volume of data transferred in today's markets, as compared to normal FIX implementation. This should clarify a bit more.
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