McKay & Go West Forge New Ultra-Fast Chicago-Tokyo Trading Route

CHICAGO, IL – December 18, 2025 – In the relentless, nanosecond-driven world of global finance, the race for speed is taking another leap forward. McKay Brothers, a premier provider of low-latency network infrastructure, has announced a major collaboration with Go West, a powerful consortium of high-frequency trading (HFT) firms, to build and operate a new, faster network between the critical financial hubs of Chicago and Tokyo.

The new route, set to go live in late January 2026, promises to deliver an immediate reduction in latency, the crucial time delay in transmitting data. This development is poised to reshape trading strategies between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Japan Exchange (JPX), two cornerstones of the global derivatives market. McKay's sister company, Quincy Data, will leverage this new artery to distribute ultra-low latency market data to key financial centers across Asia.

"We are very pleased to team up with Go West on this critical link between major financial centers," said McKay Brothers co-founder Stephane Tyc in a statement. "We look forward to serving all firms that need the best transport and market data between Chicago and Tokyo."

The Technological Arms Race Across the Pacific

The transpacific route between Chicago and Tokyo has long been a fiercely competitive battleground for speed. For HFT firms, whose algorithms execute millions of trades in the blink of an eye, even a microsecond advantage can translate into millions of dollars in profit. This constant pursuit of lower latency has fueled a technological "arms race," pushing providers to engineer ever-faster connections across the globe.

McKay Brothers' key differentiator is its mastery of hybrid microwave and fiber-optic networks. While data travels through fiber-optic cables as light pulses, it moves approximately 31% slower than it does through open air. By building networks of microwave towers that transmit data via line-of-sight radio waves, McKay can create more direct and physically shorter paths than undersea fiber cables, which must follow the contours of the ocean floor. This can result in latency improvements of up to 40% over all-fiber routes.

While the company has not yet released the specific round-trip time for the new Chicago-Tokyo link, the market context sets high expectations. In recent years, competitors have advertised transpacific latencies hovering around the 120-122 millisecond mark. Given McKay's track record—including a sub-132ms London-Tokyo route—traders anticipate this new service will set a new benchmark, further shrinking the globe for financial transactions and enabling more sophisticated arbitrage strategies that capitalize on minute price discrepancies between the two markets.

Consortium Power and a 'Level Playing Field'

This project also highlights a significant trend in financial infrastructure: user-driven development. Go West is not a traditional telecom company but a consortium of the very firms that will be the network's power users. Its members reportedly include some of the biggest names in quantitative trading, such as Jump Trading, Virtu Financial, Optiver, IMC, and Tower Research.

By pooling their resources, these firms can underwrite the immense capital expenditure required to build proprietary, cutting-edge networks that provide a collective competitive edge. This model allows them to directly influence the design and performance of infrastructure critical to their business models, rather than simply purchasing off-the-shelf services from traditional carriers. The Go West consortium previously collaborated with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) on a similar low-latency link in 2017, demonstrating the long-term viability of this collaborative approach.

However, such arrangements often raise concerns about fairness and the creation of a two-tiered market where consortium members have preferential access. McKay Brothers directly confronts this issue with its long-standing "level playing field" policy. The company guarantees that every subscriber to the new service, whether a Go West member or an independent firm, will receive the exact same lowest-possible latency.

This commitment to equitable access is a cornerstone of McKay's business model. As a neutral infrastructure vendor that does not engage in trading, it positions itself as a trusted partner to the entire financial community. This policy aims to democratize access to top-tier speed, ensuring that firms compete on the strength of their algorithms and strategies, not on their ability to secure an exclusive, faster data line.

Bridging Continents, Attracting Scrutiny

The enhancement of the Chicago-Tokyo link is more than just a technological feat; it signifies the deepening integration of North American and Asian financial markets. A faster and more efficient data corridor facilitates greater capital flow, tightens pricing efficiency between continents, and allows for more complex global trading strategies to be deployed in real-time. As Tokyo continues to solidify its position as a primary global financial hub, such high-speed links become critical arteries of the world's economic circulatory system.

Yet, the relentless quest for speed does not go unnoticed by regulators. Financial watchdogs in both the United States and Japan have become increasingly focused on the market impact of HFT. The speed and volume of algorithmic trading have been linked to concerns about increased market volatility, systemic risk, and fairness. Events like the 2010 "Flash Crash" serve as a stark reminder of how automated systems can amplify market shocks.

In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) continue to debate rules like Regulation AT, which would impose new risk controls on automated trading. Regulators are also cracking down on manipulative practices like "spoofing," which high-speed capabilities can facilitate. In Japan, where HFT can account for over two-thirds of orders on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) implemented rules in 2018 requiring high-speed traders to register and maintain robust risk-management systems. The FSA's stated goal is to ensure market stability and protect retail investors from potential disadvantages created by the speed gap.

In this environment, infrastructure providers operate under a microscope. By championing a "level playing field," McKay Brothers not only creates a compelling business case for broader market adoption but also proactively addresses one of the primary ethical and regulatory critiques leveled against the world of high-speed finance. As the new network prepares to go live, it will not only carry market data but also the ongoing debate about the future structure of global financial markets.