The process of sending out small orders to uncover the existence of large buyers or sellers (large bids or offers) in a matching engine/ venue (e.g., a dark pool) or the order book, and then execute ahead of these traders. Pinging is said to be working if execution is complete.

Pinging is a means of monitoring latency, i.e., the time an exchange takes to respond.

It is also known as order anticipation or liquidity detection or sniffing.