If you're running a brokerage with external liquidity, you need a bridge — the technology that connects your trading platform to your liquidity providers. A bridge aggregator takes this a step further, connecting you to multiple LPs simultaneously and intelligently routing orders to get the best execution.
What a bridge does
At its core, a bridge receives orders from your trading platform and forwards them to a liquidity provider for execution. It also streams price feeds from the LP back to your platform so clients see live market prices. The bridge handles the communication protocol (typically FIX 4.4), manages connections, and reconciles positions between your platform and the LP.
Why aggregation matters
A single LP connection creates a single point of failure and limits your pricing to one source. Bridge aggregation solves both problems. By connecting to multiple LPs, you get: best bid/ask from all sources merged into a single feed, smart order routing that finds the best price for each execution, automatic failover if an LP disconnects, and the ability to compare LP performance.
Smart order routing
When a client order comes in, the aggregator checks the current best price across all connected LPs and routes the order to the one offering the best execution. This happens in sub-millisecond time. The client gets better fills, and the broker can demonstrate best execution to regulators.
Feed aggregation
Price feeds from multiple LPs are merged into a single optimized feed. The aggregator takes the best bid from all sources and the best ask from all sources, creating a tighter spread than any single LP could offer. Brokers can then apply their markup on top of this aggregated feed.
Markup and configuration
A good bridge aggregator lets you configure markups per symbol, per group, or per LP. You can set different spreads for different client tiers, apply volume-based pricing, and adjust in real-time based on market conditions.
Failover
If an LP disconnects, the aggregator automatically reroutes orders to the remaining connected providers. Clients experience no interruption. When the LP reconnects, it's automatically added back to the routing pool. This is critical for 24/5 market coverage.
ZeroMS approach
ZeroMS is our bridge aggregator built for these exact requirements. It supports FIX 4.4 protocol, multi-LP aggregation, smart order routing, configurable markups, and automatic failover — all with sub-millisecond execution latency.