RxFixTerminal – Technical Stack

and Architecture

 

RxFixTerminal is a high-performance trading system designed for real-time market data processing, signal generation, and automated trade execution. The system is built using a microservices architecture, leveraging FIX protocol, Apache Kafka, and REST API for seamless communication and integration.

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1. Communication and Messaging

RxFixTerminal employs multiple communication protocols to ensure efficient data flow and trade execution:

  • FIX Protocol – Used for broker communication via QuickFIX/J, an open-source Java FIX engine.
  • Apache Kafka – Handles event-driven streaming for market data, trade signals, and execution reports.
  • REST API (JSON-based) – Facilitates service-to-service and GUI-to-service communication.

2. Core Microservices (Java + Spring Framework)

RxFixTerminal consists of three primary backend services, each built using Java and Spring Framework:

📌 RxGateway (Broker Communication & Message Routing)

  • Acts as the FIX gateway, connecting to the broker (LMAX).
  • Handles trade execution, market data retrieval, and FIX message routing.
  • Publishes market data and execution reports to Kafka.

📌 RxModeler (Market Data Processing & Signal Generation)

  • Consumes market data from Kafka and generates trading signals.
  • Defines and executes custom trading models and strategies.
  • Publishes trade signals to Kafka, which are later consumed by RxTrader.

📌 RxTrader (Trade Execution & Order Management)

  • Listens to signals from RxModeler via Kafka.
  • Handles order execution, position management, and risk control.
  • Sends execution reports back to Kafka and RxGUI via REST API.

3. User Interface (JavaFX Desktop GUI)

📌 RxGUI

  • Built with JavaFX, providing a graphical user interface for monitoring and controlling the trading system.
  • Interacts with RxGateway, RxModeler, and RxTrader via REST API.
  • Acts as a Kafka consumer, receiving real-time updates on market data, orders, and execution reports.

4. Custom Libraries Used in RxFixTerminal

To enhance flexibility and modularity, RxFixTerminal includes two in-house Java libraries:

📌 rx-core - lib

  • Core framework that includes:
    • Custom FIX protocol extensions (user-defined FIX fields).
    • Kafka topic definitions for structured event streaming.
    • Core communication methods and utilities for message parsing and validation.
    • Defines value parameters and constants used across the system (ensures standardization of parameters across different services)
  • Ensures seamless integration and message standardization across microservices.

5. Summary – Why This Architecture?

  • High performance & scalability – Kafka-based asynchronous messaging.
  • Low latency trade execution – FIX-based broker communication with QuickFIX/J.
  • Modular & extensible – Microservices with REST APIs and custom libraries.
  • Real-time monitoring & control – JavaFX GUI with Kafka integration.

This hybrid event-driven and request-response architecture allows for scalable, efficient, and real-time trading operations, making RxFixTerminal a powerful solution for algorithmic and high-frequency trading environments. 🚀