Performance

Vortum delivers CEX-grade matching speed on a fully decentralized platform — powered by ICP's unique canister architecture.

The ICP Advantage

Internet Computer is the only blockchain where complex computation happens on-chain in real-time. Vortum leverages this to build something impossible elsewhere: a non-custodial exchange with institutional-grade performance.

What ICP Enables	Vortum Benefit
Canister Smart Contracts	Full matching engine runs on-chain, not off-chain
Web-Speed Execution	Sub-microsecond order processing
Chain Fusion	Native BTC, SOL, ICP trading without bridges
Deterministic Execution	Predictable, verifiable order processing
Low Cost	Fractions of a cent per transaction

Performance Summary

Metric	Vortum	What It Means
Order Execution	~400 ns	Orders match instantly within the canister
Throughput	1M+ ops/sec	Handle any realistic trading volume
Finality	1-2 seconds	ICP consensus — improves as ICP evolves
Order Book Capacity	5M+ orders	Deep liquidity without slowdown

ICP Finality

Our matching engine is ready for sub-second finality. As ICP consensus improves, Vortum users benefit automatically — no protocol changes needed.

Detailed Benchmarks

All numbers are verified and reproducible: cargo bench -p orderbook

Core Operations

Operation	Latency	Notes
Place limit order	~400 ns	Passive order, no matching
Place market order	~1.2 μs	Includes matching against resting orders
Cancel order	~240 ns	Instant cancellation
Modify order	~560 ns	Change price or quantity
Query best bid/ask	14 ns	Real-time market data
Query depth (10 levels)	190 ns	Full order book snapshot

Throughput at Scale

Order Book Size	Throughput
1,000 orders	1.1M ops/sec
10,000 orders	1.1M ops/sec
100,000 orders	1.0M ops/sec

Performance remains consistent regardless of order book depth — critical for high-volume markets.

Stress Tests

Real-world trading scenarios validated:

Scenario	Result
1,000 aggressive orders vs 100K book	✅ 2.4 ms
4,000 mixed operations (add/modify/cancel)	✅ 1.7 ms (2.4M ops/sec)
Sequential cancellation of 1,000 orders	✅ 209 μs
High-churn alternating bid/ask	✅ Graceful degradation

How It Works

Architecture

Component	Design Choice	Why
Price levels	BTreeMap	O(log n) lookup, cache-friendly
Order storage	Pool allocation	Zero allocation in hot path
Order queue	FIFO linked list	O(1) insertion, fair ordering
Matching engine	Dual-layer	Core logic isolated from validation overhead

Memory Usage

Active Orders	Memory	Per Order
10,000	6 MB	~600 bytes
100,000	60 MB	~600 bytes
1,000,000	600 MB	~600 bytes

ICP canisters support 4 GB heap memory — Vortum can handle 5+ million active orders with headroom for growth.

For Traders

Market Makers: 240-560 ns modify/cancel enables tight spreads and rapid position management.

Algorithmic Traders: Consistent sub-microsecond latency for reliable strategy execution.

Institutional: 100K+ order book depth with no performance degradation.

For Builders

Integrate Vortum into your ICP application:

import { VortumClient } from '@vortum/sdk'

const client = await VortumClient.create()
await client.trading.placeOrder({
  marketId: 'BTC-USDC',
  side: 'buy',
  type: { limit: 50000_00000000n },
  quantity: 100000n,
})

Full TypeScript SDK with WebSocket subscriptions for real-time updates.

Verify Yourself

# Clone and run benchmarks
git clone https://github.com/mfactory-lab/vortum
cargo bench -p orderbook

Benchmarks use Criterion.rs with statistical analysis for accuracy.

Roadmap

Improvement	Status	Impact
Current engine	✅ Live	1M+ ops/sec
Batch order API	🔄 Planned	+50% for bulk operations
Multi-market parallelism	🔄 Planned	Linear scaling
ICP consensus improvements	🔄 External	Faster finality

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Why Vortum on ICP

Other blockchains force a choice: decentralization or performance. ICP enables both. Vortum is the first exchange to fully leverage this — institutional-grade speed, fully on-chain, completely non-custodial.