Median RTT establishes the baseline path level. Jitter, p95 and p99+ tails, outliers, and stability show how consistently the path behaves under the workload.
Why latency distribution matters
A candidate path can look attractive on average while still producing inconsistent behavior that shows up in the moments the desk actually cares about. A cleaner median with worse tails can still be the wrong path for the workload.
Median RTT is one part of the production-path decision.
What tails and jitter change
Jitter and p99 behavior answer a more practical question: how often does the path stop behaving like the median case? For market making, quoting, hedging, and venue-to-venue balancing, those deviations can matter more than a single small median improvement.
- Lower jitter improves consistency of decision timing
- Lower tails reduce worst-case execution surprises
- Stable path behavior improves trust in the runtime choice
It shows whether a path remains dependable beyond the median case.
How candidate paths should be compared
The benchmark should compare the current path against feasible candidates under the same frame, then show where the distribution actually shifts. A production recommendation requires the full latency distribution and stability profile.
Route diversity also belongs here. Sometimes the first path wins the median case, while the second path produces a cleaner tail profile or a better failover posture.
Production route implications
Add route diversity when measured tail behavior or resilience justifies the additional operational complexity.
Select the production path using the full latency distribution, route stability, and resilience profile.