Connection & Testing

Thank you for your interest in trading on MX.

Throughout the certification and connection process, the Market Access Manager will be your resource to answer any questions or to review the available options related to your requirements. You can contact the Market Access Manager at 514 871-3581 or via email at mxconnect@m-x.ca.

MX Trader Identification Form

Test and certification documentation

The test and certification documentation is designed to facilitate development and certification to MX SOLA® services.

Technical specifications

To obtain the technical specifications kindly communicate with the Bourse's Technical Help Desk samsupport@tmx.com.

Access to the general test environment (GTE)

The testing environment is designed to improve the customer development and testing experience. Any enhancements or new features to the trading platform are first deployed on the GTE prior to Production implementation. Some of these enhancements or new features may require client certification before promotion of their application into the Production environment. Details of these enhancements or new features as well as their pre-requisites (if any) are found in the technical notices that are published.

To request connectivity to the GTE, customers must request the GTE Access Form from mxconnect@m-x.ca and email a digital copy (not scanned) of the completed form to the same address.

Hours of availability of our GTE services can vary from one service to another. The majority of services' gateways are accessible from 1:00 a.m. to 23:00 p.m. Eastern Time. If you wish to obtain the hours of a particular service's gateway, please contact the Technical Help Desk (THD) at the coordinates located at the end of this page.

Technical and functional support of the GTE is only available during regular business hours (Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00 p.m. Eastern Time).

For trading simulation on the GTE, please be advised – the GTE instrument dictionary is not an exact copy of what is available in our production environment. The tradeable products available on our GTE are meant to be a subset of what is in production. Trading hours and stages of these available products can also differ, however, these can be changed upon request by contacting the THD.

Certification

The certification environment mirrors production functionality and customers can use it to perform:

  • certification testing for SOLA core functionality;
  • maintenance testing;
  • development testing for new system features or functionality in production-like conditions.

External applications using the SAIL or the FIX protocol for order routing, ATR, Drop Copy, LOPR or the Clearing API, require certification before gaining access to the production connection. The Market Access Manager will provide customers with required test cases and support during this phase.

Contact the Market Access Manager to schedule an appointment when ready to certify.

Development support and testing

Application testing and support is available Mondays through Fridays, from 8:00 a.m. ET to 4:30 p.m. ET. After-hours testing is available without support Mondays through Fridays, from 4:30 p.m. ET to 10:30 p.m. ET.

MX reserves the right to deny access to the development systems for any reason at any time without notice. We recommend that customers confirm with the Market Access Manager the availability of the system.

Support during development and testing is available by contacting the Market Access Manager.

Access to the production environment

Before requesting access to production environment, the following steps are prerequisites:

  • MX approved participant status has been granted (which includes becoming a member of the Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation or having a clearing agreement with one of its members).
  • Certification of any applications requiring certification has been granted.
  • Sign off is provided by the Market Access Manager.

Customers must request the TMX Service Request Form from mxconnect@m-x.ca and email a scanned version of the completed form to the same address.

To obtain access to the production environment, the following connections are available:

Direct connection

  • MX co-location services: The SOLA Trading engine is located in Markham, Ontario. MX co-location services provide the opportunity for customers to optimize trading opportunities, achieve faster execution and maximize trading profits through low-latency trading and data access from within the TMX data centre. The co-lo facility is located in Toronto.
  • MX points of presence (POP): A direct connection can be made to the MX POP located in Toronto. Physical connectivity to the production network is provided by 10/100/1000 Mb Ethernet connection. Customers are responsible for supplying the appropriate telecommunications lines and router at the POP.
    https://www.tmxinfoservices.com/tmx-datalinx/products-and-services/co-location-services

Indirect connection

  • Third-party network providers: Connectivity can be obtained via the the Beanfield, Bell, BT Radianz, Cogent, Frontline Technologies, Global Cloud Xchange, Lumen, Rogers, Network Services (TNS) networks, and Zayo.
  • ISV network: CQG, Frontline Technologies, GL Net and TTNET
    https://www.m-x.ca/en/trading/connectivity/isv

Production bandwidth requirements

Bandwidth requirements are determined by whether or not a client receives the market data feed and which information is read. The base requirement for all applications is 1.5 megabit. Refer to the following table for bandwidth required for the HSVF data feed.

Type of trafficBandwidth requirement
Futures only 1.5 megabit
Best limit only
(includes options & futures)
28 megabits
Full feed – 5 best limits
(includes options, futures & market depth)
55 megabits

Post-implementation support

Trading support
Market Operations Department
Telephone: 514 871-7871
Toll-free: 1-888-693-6366
Technical support
Technical Help Desk
Telephone: 514 871-7872
Toll-free: 1-877-588-8489
derivatives.operations@tmx.com