Time

A Time message is immediately generated and sent when there is a PITCH event for a given clock second. If there is no PITCH event for a given clock second, then no Time message is sent for that second. All subsequent time offset fields for the same unit will use the new Time value as the base until another Time message is received for the same unit. The Time field is the number of seconds relative to midnight Eastern Time, which is provided in the Time Reference message. On C1 only, the Time message will also include the Epoch Time field, which is the current time represented as the number of whole seconds since the Epoch (midnight January 1, 1970).

Table 1. Time
Field NameOffsetLengthType/(Value)Description
Length01BinaryLength of this message including this field
Message Type110x20 Time Message
Time24BinaryNumber of whole seconds elapsed since the start of the current Eastern Time calendar day, derived by converting the current Eastern wall clock time (HH:MM:SS) to seconds.

On Daylight Saving Time transition days, Time reflects wall clock seconds and does not adjust for the UTC offset change. On a DST spring-forward day, the maximum value will be 82,799 (23 hours). On a DST fall-back day, values between 3,600 and 7,199 will appear twice. Recipients requiring unambiguous absolute timestamps should use Epoch Time (where available) or Midnight Reference in the Time Reference message.

Epoch Time64Binary
  • C1 Options Only
  • Number of whole seconds since the Epoch (midnight January 1, 1970 UTC).
Total Length = 6 bytes, 10 bytes on C1 Options Only
Cboe Titanium U.S. Options Complex Auction Multicast PITCH Specification - Time | Cboe