When I started building performance tests for a trading platform, there was zero load testing in place. Here's how I built a comprehensive load testing suite designed to catch production-breaking issues before they happen.
The Wake-Up Call
Three months into production, our trading platform crashed during market open:
- 500+ users hit the API simultaneously
- Response times: 200ms → 45 seconds
- Database connections maxed out
- $2M in potential trades lost
We had no idea what our capacity limits were. I was tasked with fixing this.
Phase 1: Establishing Baselines
Before load testing, you need to know normal behavior:
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