GSR: A Crypto Market Maker and Ecosystem Partner

Summary

In 'This is My Architecture,' Matteo from GSR discusses the firm's global trading in cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Highlighting challenges of connectivity with 45+ exchanges, GSR leverages AWS's infrastructure for optimized exchange connectivity, using PrivateLink and Direct Connect technologies. Data sync across regions is managed through Amazon Aurora, while ElastiCache, EFS, and DataSync handle various data storage needs. Simulations are powered by AWS Batch, with research teams analyzing market data to inform automated trading strategies.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Matteo from GSR discusses the company's role as a global trading firm specializing in cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
• 🔌 GSR faces technical challenges with connectivity to over 45 exchanges worldwide, relying on AWS Global Infrastructure for fast and secure connections.
• 🛠️ The architecture includes DevOps management of Kubernetes clusters on EC2 instances across different availability zones for resilience against regional failures.
• 🔄 GSR optimizes exchange connectivity by having production clusters in key regions, often co-located with AWS and exchanges.
• 🔗 Connectivity to exchanges is achieved using AWS PrivateLink for those within the same AWS Region, and Direct Connect for others, avoiding the need for physical hardware management.
• 🗄️ Data synchronization across AWS Regions is handled by Amazon Aurora, which allows for scaling and global replication of relational data.
• 💾 Stateless workloads utilize ElastiCache for key-value data persistence, simplifying setup without the need for persistent volumes.
• 📚 EFS is used for storing large volumes of market data, while DataSync syncs this data to S3 buckets for simulation purposes, due to S3's superior scalability.
• 🧪 AWS Batch is leveraged for running simulations and data analytics, with market data sourced from S3 and results pushed back for easy access.
• 📈 The research team analyzes market data to optimize trading signals, which are then utilized by the trading team for automated trading strategies.
• 🤝 The architecture presentation highlights the collaborative use of AWS services to support GSR's trading operations and data analytics needs.

Q & A

What is GSR and what does it specialize in?

GSR is a global trading firm that specializes in providing liquidity, risk management, and structured products to institutional participants in the cryptocurrency and digital assets trading ecosystem.

How does the cloud assist GSR with its technical challenges?

The cloud, specifically AWS Global Infrastructure, helps GSR by providing fast and secure connectivities to over 45 exchanges worldwide, which is essential for their operations.

Can you explain the role of DevOps in GSR's architecture?

GSR's DevOps team manages and provisions Kubernetes clusters on top of EC2 instances, ensuring high availability and regional failure resilience across different availability zones.

How does GSR optimize exchange connectivity?

GSR optimizes exchange connectivity by running production clusters in key regions where exchanges might be AWS co-located, which increases throughput and reduces latencies.

What is AWS PrivateLink and how does GSR use it?

AWS PrivateLink is a technology that allows GSR to securely connect to exchanges running in the same AWS Region without exposing the traffic to the public internet.

What alternative does GSR use when AWS PrivateLink is not available?

When AWS PrivateLink is not available, GSR uses Direct Connect technology to establish direct market access without managing physical hardware.

How does GSR handle data synchronization across AWS Regions?

GSR uses Amazon Aurora to store and replicate its live and historical trading data globally, allowing for data synchronization across different AWS Regions.

What role does ElastiCache play in GSR's infrastructure?

ElastiCache is used by GSR to persist key-value type data, simplifying the setup by eliminating the need for provisioning persistent volumes directly attached to the workloads.

How does GSR manage and store large volumes of market data?

GSR uses EFS technology to store terabytes of market data and DataSync to sync these volumes to S3 buckets for use in simulations, as S3 provides better scalability for large-scale simulations.

What is the purpose of AWS Batch in GSR's architecture?

AWS Batch is used by GSR for running simulations and data analytics, consuming market data from S3, processing it on EC2 instances for data locality, and pushing results back to S3 for easy retrieval.

Who utilizes the analysis results from GSR's research team?

The research team's analysis and results are provided to the trading team, who then monetize the trading signals found and incorporate them into their automated trading strategies.