How Does the “Time” Component of Price-Time Priority Require Precise Synchronization across a CEX’s Systems?

The time component requires extremely precise time synchronization (often using Network Time Protocol or Precision Time Protocol) across all servers, matching engines, and data feeds. If the clocks are even slightly out of sync, an order received later by the system could be mistakenly time-stamped as earlier, allowing it to jump the queue at the same price.

This precision is critical to ensuring the integrity of the "first-in-time" rule.