Throughout yesterday, I heard numerous reports of traders unable to get through to their brokers / clearing firms.
In particular, Fidelity was supposedly down until almost noon on Tuesday, and TD Ameritrade website crashed and its servers were down.
Anyone else run into these (or related) issues?
~~~
I see Reuters has the story:
TD Ameritrade online trading system hit by outage
Online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp was hit on Tuesday by an
outage in its Web-based trading system, but it was resolved shortly
after noon, the company said.
Ameritrade said customers experiencing problems logging into
accounts over the Internet could still access their accounts through
the company’s telephone system.Telephone trades were charged at Web-based rates during the period of the outage, the company said. A TD Ameritrade spokeswoman said the company saw a significant
increase in activity through its call center and online about one hour
after the market opened, and customers had difficulties logging into
their accounts on its Web site.The problems were resolved by early afternoon, she said.
While I am quick to point out technical errors, let me also say that TD handled this correctly, charging the lower Web-based rates for telephone called trades.
I’ve done Kudlow with Joe Moglia, and he’s a class act. If E*Trade had a "Moglia," they might have avoided some of their woes.
I have Fidelity and did not have any issues at all
my fidelity was fine. TDAm was a disaster
I have thinkorswim and my equity trades went through at the open. I also tried to get some puts early in the day but my options orders just weren’t going through. Thankfully they didn’t.
Jobless claims once again show what a defunct index they are.
The 2001 recession pretty much ended them as “modern” recession indicator at these levels. I have intial claims at 210,000 just to match the 2000 peak during the last expansion. Ouch!!!!!
The fact they have spent little time below 300,000 level shows how modest the labor market has been this expansion.
On August 16th I couldn’t execute an order through Charles Schwab. When I called, I was told their online trading system was down. I tried the phone trade desk and couldn’t get through. The recent heavy volume days have been fine using Schwab.
I use AMTD and they were down all of Tuesday morning. I was able to trade in the premarket but site crashed from about 9:30 to 11. Even worse, no one was even answering the phones.
They have an alternate site at http://www.izone.com that worked but was very slow.
Also, I have noticed in last 2 days that sometimes the bid/ask is lagging the last price by about 10 seconds. Not sure if this is a system wide problem or AMTD specific.
I called and complained and got 30 free trades.
I was able to get through to Schwab with little to no problem most of this week. Admittedly, order fills weren’t the best (spreads kinda sucked), but that was to be expected.
Now that the Bear market is dead and the Bears are in full retreat, things should run smoothly.
AmTd was down.
Zecco did ok, but was very slow.
I had several errors with Fidelity trading (MDP put) options on Tuesday morning. Thankfully, I made more money selling yesterday morning ;)
But I was still pissed on Tuesday …
No, Keith, they just don’t want any empty seats on the sucker bus when it goes over the cliff.
scottrade had no issues! woo
I heard there was only one dictionary and none of the brokers knew how to spell s-e-l-l.
roger that on scottrade!
Re: AMTD: On Tuesday I was logged in and streaming before the open (0430 west coast) but their servers seized-up almost from the opening bell and seemed to stay down all morning. No success with phone orders (given the melt-down overseas on Monday they had ample time to anticipate the volume and muster the additional staff needed to support.) SCHW assures me they had no issues, so I’m switching…
Some, if not all, discount brokers put orders on their own book and match there if possible. Their infrastructure was clogging under stress… If they sent the “excess” orders to the exchanges it would be fine.
I had problems with AMTD where a simple cancel-replace order didn’t behave as expected (didn’t cancel). But no worries because nothing got executed anyway, not even a limit buy crossing the ask price…
TD Ameritrade crapped out for a few minutes for me. Not as bad as some others
I didn’t notice any problems with IB
On Tuesday, I just needed some statements from Etrade, but eventually got signed in after several delays and got it done.
The funny part, was Yahoo finance. Just getting to the main page was huge delays, so I gave up and clicked on Yahoo Games and immediately loaded the page.
I think the whole internet structure can’t really handle high volume days. It’s scary that we depend on this thing so much.
Same with cell phone networks, when you need them the most, they wont be there for you(like a natural disaster or other huge event that makes everybody check on loved ones). You hear stories on the news after these events about no calls getting through.
Its as if our modern infrastructure is only rated to barely get the job done.
On Tuesday, I just needed some statements from Etrade, but eventually got signed in after several delays and got it done.
The funny part, was Yahoo finance. Just getting to the main page was huge delays, so I gave up and clicked on Yahoo Games and immediately loaded the page.
I think the whole internet structure can’t really handle high volume days. It’s scary that we depend on this thing so much.
Same with cell phone networks, when you need them the most, they wont be there for you(like a natural disaster or other huge event that makes everybody check on loved ones). You hear stories on the news after these events about no calls getting through.
Its as if our modern infrastructure is only rated to barely get the job done.
I’ve been testing Wells Fargo’s new brokerage account (free trades)…when the market shot upward, WF cratered. I couldn’t even logon to view my positions for ~60m.
Well duh… when the system is processing 7 billion shares/day the tubes will seem a bit squeezed.
well duh except for they all have PR saying they’re well prepared and should be.
well duh except for they all have PR saying they’re well prepared and should be.
Now that the Bear market is dead and the Bears are in full retreat, things should run smoothly.
Posted by: Keith Shepard | Jan 24, 2008 8:59:14 AM
______________
Don’t go anywhere with food in your pockets.
Just sayin’.
For over an hour yesterday morning I could not access “orders” screen on Fidelity – all other screens OK (positions, balances, etc.) but got constant error message on “orders” – not what I would expect, and worried as to what I will be able to do if a real stress event were to hit
One big flash neutron in the atmosphere and your car won’t even start.
Aside from that Fido was OK for me.
“While I am quick to point out technical errors, let me also say that TD handled this correctly, charging the lower Web-based rates for telephone called trades.”
Are you kidding??? Of course TD should not charge the “phone” rate for trades that couldn’t be made due to their web failure. They shouldn’t charge a freakin’ penny! A customer signs up for an account while TD goes around tooting their own horn, and then when you need them the most, they fail. This happens time and time again, year after year, with lots and lots of brokers. But hey, for the pleasure of having to even figure out how to use a phone system–which is like watching water boil until it evaporates–we should be happy to pay the exact same commission we’d have to pay if their primary web systems actually functioned properly??? And this for a CRITICAL MONEY event where every split-second can make or break a trade???
My oh my.
“…not what I would expect, and worried as to what I will be able to do if a real stress event were to hit.”
Posted by: fatbear | Jan 24, 2008 9:56:30 AM
____
a 600 point swing isn’t a “stress event”?
the way our system is advertised it shouldn’t take 5 minutes to execute a market order (yes I know asking for trouble) on a totally liquid stock.
That is happening more and more. The system is capable of handling it methinks….it’s when the “humans” interfere (on day’s like yesterday) that causes the problems.
And when it does happen all they do is apologize and point to the boiler plate of “what if’s” that cover all of there asses every time.
Ciao
MS
>>If E*Trade had a “Moglia,” they might have avoided some of their woes.>>
Please Barry don’t make me laugh… They ARE ALL the same. A trade’s entire platform is out and all we get is “I’m sorry”.
A nation of apologists……
Ciao
MS
Barry, it’s happening again, RIGHT NOW, as the TD streamer platform is down and out. If it takes more servers, then GET MORE SERVERS!
Problem resolved, no?
JPM
From AMTD website as of right now…
Streamer and Command Center 2.0 Access
Some clients maybe experiencing difficulty accessing Streamer and Command Center 2.0. The issue is currently being addressed and we apologize for the inconvenience.
I could care less about excuses..
IBKR (Interactive Brokers) worked just fine in all the mess. They did blow out some traders due to volatality – but ofcourse it is not their fault. No technical issues whatsoever.
IB worked fine for me, and I have never had those kind of issues with them regarding site access. Customer service? Is and has always been terrible.
Always good to have another back up broker just in case.
On Tuesday placed market sell order with Fidelity at 9:48 AM. System assigned trade # but no order updates available. No way to cancel with system reporting that update pending. Phones jammed. Order processed at 12:11 @ $2 down from original time.
I’m currently with TDAm and have been burned a few times before. Anyone know any reason why ThinkorSwim is a bad idea? They seem like they have smaller fees for sub-1000 share lots and are a more robust platform. Really really wanna switch just looking for a reason not to…
TD Amritrade took some 10 minutes to execute a Market Buy on QQQQ Tuesday at the open (short covering).
Small Investor Chronicles™
“Always good to have another back up broker just in case.”
I use Ameritrade and optionsXpress. While the former failed I had no issues with OX. Even today, when streaming quotes from AMTD crapped OX was happily chugging by. Always have a backup…
firstrade failed to login yesterday, but they fixed the problem just before the trading started
they experienced problems with the real-time quotes and even put a warning on the web site to avoid real-time streaming and get real-time quotes manually before putting orders.
I have had problems with Ameritrade 3 times in the last year. Most recently their real time options quotes on the order entry form for the QQQQ were off by a lot. (an .80 quote when the option was trading at about 1.30)
Their response? We are aware of the problem and are working on it. You would think they would have a warning on the order entry page if they knew about it, wouldn’t you?
Unacceptable, especially their attitude about it. I have found in the past that if you complain and ask for it, they’ll fork over 25 free trades when they screw up, but only if you ask.
what’s the best online trading companies?
apparently none of them…..
Ciao
MS
a 600 point swing isn’t a “stress event”?
Posted by: Marcus Aurelius
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Nope – this was earlier in the day, before Noon – between indexes way-down and just so-so-down – that’s not stress, just a market
has me thinking about leaving Fidelity….
Barry, how about a post on stress-tested on-line brokers – or at least a hint as to how to find the best….
Ameritrade was out, but I placed my limit orders the night before and my short covering was executed perfectly at the market open.
David (lightened up on shorts, waiting to 1400 to short more)
I have been very happy with TDAmeritrade’s customer service over the years. It works great for my IRA, and it has worked well for my small trading account (Amateur).
I must say that I was very angry with the magnitude of the outage on Tuesday. They had a full day to prepare (The market was closed on Monday and they had the RARE opportunity to actually see that there was a wave of activity coming the next day. How often do you have the blessing of lead time?) I hope that they they learn from this failure and choose to invest in infrastructure.
I am now interested in other platforms for trading. In particular, I am interested in software that is not browser/web-based. Any recommendations?
I logged into TDAM with no trouble at the open. I got in a couple long trades on QQQQ and IWO and then the browser died. It took another 30 minutes to get through the next login. Then the browser died. I tried to get in again during a mid-morning peak to close the trades and take profits of about 5%. Couldn’t get in. By the time it would let me login again, the trades were only up 1%, but I closed them in fear that the servers might stay down all day, the market would move 5 or 10% against me and I’d have no way to close them. So, this definately cost me some money.
The got plenty of money for those ad buys and executive bonuses. But they put IT on life support becuase its not a profit center- its an expense budget line item.
There is no slack capacity in their systems which means it will fail anytime there is a spike in usage.
Fidelity’s issues were with their Institutional Wealth Services division. The issue was affecting Registered Investment Advisors with client funds held at Fidelity and caused lost trades and duplicates for trades made through the Fidelity Advisor CHANNEL platform. The issue was corrected by noon.
Fidelity’s issues were with their Institutional Wealth Services division.
to Anonymous – I am a Fidelity Private Access individual customer – and I had problems, as noted above – please treat Barry’s loyal minions with the respect they’re due….
to fatbear: Due to your lack of appreciation I will no longer bother to give any information I know partaining to Fidelity system issues in the future.
I am a loyal Barry minion myself and only gave the information I did because I felt that you deserved to know. My mistake was apparently not using the words “some of” before my earlier post. I only support IWS systems at Fidelity, so I only know information for IWS system issues.
In that case Anonymous, you have my apology
Not concerning you: It still isn’t clear to me that Fidelity is doing anything substantial about the retail problem (e.g., even a note to those who were logged-in at the time, other than a not-very-helpful error message), and I hope Barry does do a shout-out for a “stress-tested retail platform” post.
I had no problems with TD yesterday, although I am outside the US and they might have a mirror or something. I agree with the comments about poor execution – I made some trades in liquid bank stocks that took 3 minutes to execute where it should have been seconds.
They heavily PR their execution guarentee, 30 seconds in NASDAQ100 or no commission that is BS: If a $9.95 commission is make or break, you don’t put the trade on!
Fidelity has made GOOD the ‘market sell’ trade that got hung up on Tuesday morning. Full net credit was posted to my account on the Friday night updates. Got to give them credit–