Over the past seven years, market data demand has accelerated at an extraordinary pace. From June 2018 to April2025, OPRA message rates have grown nearly tenfold driven by rising market activity and increasingly complex tradingstrategies. This relentless growth underscores the need for infrastructure that can scale seamlessly with surging volumes. Monthly Message and Packet Rate Analysis(Jun 2018 - Apr 2025) This chart illustrates the monthly average and maximum message rates alongside the monthly average and maximum packet ratesfor the OPRA feed from June 2018 to April 2025. The data indicates a consistent upward trend in both metrics, with message ratesshowing higher volatility and significant peaks in early 2025, likely reflecting increased market activity. Exegy’s proven track record under stress underscores thevalue of our ticker plant appliances and the Axiom managedservice. By combining deep industry expertise with proactivecapacity monitoring, we ensure that our clients can rely onuninterrupted, high-performance access to real-time marketdata—even when volumes exceed expectations. KEY TAKEAWAY OPRA message rateshave grown nearly10×since 2018,highlighting thecritical importanceof scalable marketdata infrastructure. On the reverse side, see how Axiom held steady through theApril 2025 tariff-driven market surge. How Axiom Performed During the April 2025 Tariff Surge In April 2025, U.S. capital markets experienced a sudden surge in trading activity. Following the announcementof a broad package of import duties by President Donald Trump on April 2, market volumes spiked dramaticallyduring the week ofApril 7. Events like these put extreme pressure on market data infrastructure, testing whethersystems can keep up with unpredictable bursts of activity without missing critical information. Below are highlights from live capacity monitoring of Exegy Ticker Plant (XTP)appliances that power the Axiom service. Across both options (OPRA) and equities and commodities (NAEC), Exegy’s XTP-powered Axiom services absorbeddramatic increases in market data traffic during theApril 2025tariff-driven volatility. In NY4, OPRA packet ratesrose by 50%, with peaks exceeding 50 million messages per second. In NY2, NAEC packet rates doubled, with peakvolumes climbing 40% to more than 7 million messages per second. Despite these extraordinary demands, Axiomdelivered seamless performance with zero data loss Performance by the Numbers OPRA (NY4 – 96 Channels) NAEC (NY2 – 38 Feeds / 248 Channels) packet rate(75K⇾150K per second)2x peak messages per second(40% increase) peak messages per second(42% increase)50M+ average message rate(2M⇾4M per second) Axiom, Exegy’s market data-as-a-service offering, delivers high quality, low-latency normalized market data that allows firmsto access major markets across the globe. Axiom is built for ease of use, stability, and consistent performance, utilizing Exegy’shigh-capacity FPGA appliance technology to deliver reliable and consistent performance under stressful market conditions. Discover more insightsfrom Exegy’s capacitymonitoring — contact usto explore the full dataset.sales@exegy.com