What is FIX?

The FIX Protocol (Financial Information Exchange) is a standardized messaging system for real-time electronic communication of trade-related information in financial markets.

History of FIX

Developed in the early 1990s, the FIX Protocol enables the seamless exchange of trade-related information, such as orders, executions, and market data, between trading institutions, brokers, exchanges, and other financial entities. It is highly valued for its speed, reliability, and real-time capabilities, which are essential for high-frequency trading and other time-sensitive financial activities. The protocol defines a comprehensive set of message types and field formats, making it adaptable for a variety of trading environments.

FIX tag/value pairs

A FIX tag value message is structured as a sequence of key-value pairs where each key (tag) is a numeric identifier representing a specific data field, and the value contains the associated data. FIX tagvalue encoding is standardised in ISO 3531-1:2022.

8=FIXT.1.1|9=61|35=A|34=1|49=EXEC|52=20250101-23:24:06|

Decoding FIX using FIXParser

FIXParser allows you to decode a FIX message into a clear, human-readable format, featuring both our proprietary Message representation and the standardized FIX JSON format.

Header: {
  BeginString: "FIXT11"
  BodyLength: 176
  MsgSeqNum: 4567
  MsgType: "MarketDataSnapshotFullRefresh"
  SenderCompID: "SENDER"
  SendingTime: "20160802-21:14:38.717"
  TargetCompID: "TARGET"
 }
Body: {
  NoPartyIDs: [
    PartyID: "DEU"
    PartyIDSource: "BIC"
    PartyRole: "ExecutingFirm"
    NoPartySubIDs: [
      PartySubID: "A1"
      PartySubIDType: "SecuritiesAccountNumber"
     ]
    PartyID: "104317"
    PartyIDSource: "CSDParticipant"
    PartyRole: "ClearingAccount"
    PartyID: "GSI"
    PartyIDSource: "BIC"
    PartyRole: "ClearingFirm"
    PartyRoleQualifier: "23"
    NoPartySubIDs: [
      PartySubID: "C3"
      PartySubIDType: "SecuritiesAccountNumber"
     ]
   ]
 }
Trailer: {
  CheckSum: "034"
 }

FIX Simple Binary Encoding

FIX Simple Binary Encoding is a compact, high-performance format for encoding FIX messages, optimizing data transfer efficiency and reducing latency. FIX SBE is a feature under development and part of FIXParser Pro.

00 00 00 5c eb 50 2a 00 62 00 5b 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 4f 30 30 30 30 30 30 31 45 58 45 43 30 30 30 30 46 31 47 45 4d 34 00 00 00 00 de 07 06 ff ff 31 01 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 75 3e 0c 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 1a 85 01 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 24 85 01 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00
Header: {
  messageLength: 92
  encodingType: "FIX SBE Version 1.0 Little-Endian"
  blockLength: 42
  templateId: 98
  schemaId: 91
  version: 0
  numGroups: 1
  numVarDataFields: 0
 }
Body: {
  OrderID: "O0000001"
  ExecID: "EXEC0000"
  ExecType: "Trade"
  OrdStatus: "PartialFilled"
  Symbol: "GEM4"
  MaturityMonthYear: 201406
  Side: "Buy"
 }
Trailer: {
 }