A method for generating a prediction of a latency of a transaction processing system includes: sampling a first plurality of messages from a database that stores data indicative of messages previously processed by the transaction processing system including a characteristic and a processing time of each previously processed message; generating latency tables based upon the characteristics and the processing times of the sampled first plurality of messages; determining a characteristic of each of a second plurality of messages being processed by the transaction processing system; selecting, for each of the second plurality of messages, a latency table from the plurality of latency tables based upon the respective determined characteristic; simulating a processing time for each of the second plurality of messages based upon the respective selected latency table; and generating a latency prediction for the transaction processing system based upon the simulated processing times for the second plurality of messages.