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Schwab, Fidelity Traders Report Outages During Stock Meltdown (bloomberg.com) 74

Charles Schwab and other retail brokerage users reported outages as a global stocks selloff surged when trading in the US market opened on Monday. From a report: More than 14,000 users reported an outage at Schwab at 9:50 a.m. in New York, according to the website Downdetector. The outage comes at a time when global financial markets are experiencing a significant downturn as a widespread sell-off intensified following Friday's disappointing US employment data, which heightened concerns about a potential recession in the world's largest economy. The turbulence was particularly pronounced in Asian markets, with Japanese stocks leading the decline, while cryptocurrencies, oil prices, and European equities also suffered losses. The volatility spread to the US, where stocks plummeted at the opening bell, and the yield curve briefly inverted as investors increased their bets on imminent Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
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Schwab, Fidelity Traders Report Outages During Stock Meltdown

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  • by Keick ( 252453 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @09:56AM (#64681924)

    I know it's probably growing pains from acquiring TD Ameritrade, but as a Schwab client for over 20 years even I am getting a little frustrated that it always seems to happen on volatile days.

    I had been watching NVDA waiting for a buy opportunity, and it might have been this morning except I couldn't login for an hour and a half.

    When I finally got in, a had a decent chat with a support rep. They claim it was only certain individuals that were effected and it took them longer than normal to figure out what was effecting that subset of clients. He never would give more specifics, but did say this issue went all the way to the top of the company (whatever that means).

    • by reanjr ( 588767 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @11:16AM (#64682282) Homepage

      Shit's rigged unless you're plugged into a Bloomberg in NYC. It's just a matter of how rigged.

    • *affected

    • They moved some TDAmeritrade accounts to Schwab, and it all sucks. Schwab has an ignorant account design so I see personal and retirement accounts of me when I log in as an authorized user for a company. They like that design and won't fix it.
    • I was also wanting to buy some things this morning but it was well past noon my time before I could login to Schwab (on app or web, login service failures).

      On top of the unreliable login service that screwed me over, I also hate the Schwab UI (at least compared to Ameritrade).

      Going to try and switch away from them in the next few months. Couldn't help noticing an Interactive Brokers login I have worked just fine first thing this morning.

    • I know it's probably growing pains from acquiring TD Ameritrade, but as a Schwab client for over 20 years even I am getting a little frustrated that it always seems to happen on volatile days.

      Wait a sec, you actually think it was coincidence that the platform was unavailable for trades during a volatile market? Maybe you shouldn't be trading then. It is a cutthroat market and you are too trusting to play safely.

      No, they absolutely do NOT play fair. At all.

  • TDA was great until Schwab took them over and moved everyone to Schwab's systems. I left because they couldn't handle BRK.A, and then lied about it. And when I left, they violated FINRA rules by not transferring to the new broker in the required timeframe.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by msauve ( 701917 )
        Unless they've fixed it, each share will show up as 100 derivative/fractional shares, and when you click on the symbol, it will say it can't be found. More than once, the account info was all screwed up and didn't show even the fractional shares or had the value completely wrong. And I was only there for a couple of months. I think the reason for their delay in transferring out was because they had to first convert the fractional shares to full shares before they could do the transfer. They never would answ
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • by Anonymous Coward
            A bit late to chime in, but I just looked at Schwab's records at FINRA. There's got to be some thing where they don't have to carry records of arbitration that Schwab wins- surely there's no way they only lose? Anyway, there are like 293 records of people getting small-to-significant payouts, it might be worth considering.
  • I bet (Score:4, Interesting)

    by stolidobserver ( 4112531 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @10:00AM (#64681950)

    I bet the trading is going just fine for the institutionals and the mega-rich. It's only the poor people who can't move their money around when the stock casino tanks.

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @10:31AM (#64682070)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Circuits breaker did trigger in japan.

  • by Anubis IV ( 1279820 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @10:03AM (#64681960)

    You know it's bad when the financial news manages to break through into video gaming and tech news sites. I don't really keep up with day-to-day market action, but one of my gaming sites was reporting first thing this morning that all of the Japanese video game companies were down double-digit percents in the last day, with the Nikkei as a whole taking its largest single-day drop since something like 1987. Now Slashdot is reporting on it (and in a timely manner, no less?!).

    Downright frightening.

    • by Fons_de_spons ( 1311177 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @10:30AM (#64682068)
      I am 42 now. These stock crashes are becoming boring. They should get a grip and get things in order. Economy professor explained that the stock exchange resembles an emotional unstable person. A bit of bad news can trigger hysteria. Same for a bit of good news. Maybe they all need a bit of therapy.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I'm not complaining about it being reported here, lest you think otherwise. Just commenting that if the news is breaking outside financial circles, it's likely significant.

      • by hawk ( 1151 )

        "Higher loads render servers overloaded. More at 11, twenty years ago today."

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      Corporate greed and price gouging have finally come to a boiling point. Groceries are damn near double what they were pre pandemic levels and there is no reason for it. https://www.usinflationcalcula... [usinflatio...ulator.com]

      Oh wait there is a reason. https://fourweekmba.com/the-kr... [fourweekmba.com]

      Even McDonald's has started to price themselves out of the market. https://www.reuters.com/busine... [reuters.com]

      • You can blame Corporations sure, but if people refused to pay the ridiculous price increases this wouldn't have continued to the point it has.

        Some things are hard to not buy like food, but everything else can be voted down with your wallet and a little bit of perseverance and willingness for inconvenience.

        The modern customer simply doesn't care, it's just a larger number in the debt bucket. Plus everyone got a raise to cover some of this inflation - which contributes to higher costs for the Corporatio
        • by msk ( 6205 )

          Plus everyone got a raise to cover some of this inflation - which contributes to higher costs for the Corporations... So they raise prices, now you need another raise...

          Not everyone did. Some corporations just refuse to pay cost-of-living increases to anyone outside the C-suite, and provide endless excuses.

        • You can blame Corporations sure, but if people refused to pay the ridiculous price increases this wouldn't have continued to the point it has.

          Yes I'll just stop buying groceries and spend a few million getting a hobby farm up and running.

      • by dbialac ( 320955 )

        Groceries are damn near double what they were pre pandemic levels and there is no reason for it.

        Sure there is. Increased share prices.

      • by jbengt ( 874751 )

        Groceries are damn near double what they were pre pandemic levels

        Don't feed the propaganda, they're up more like 25% [cnbc.com] to 26% [yahoo.com] (not that that's an insignificant amount)
        And the current (June 2023 to June 2024) yearly rate of 3% [usda.gov] is less that the 3.9% rate at the last election.

        Since the start of the pandemic, grocery prices have risen 25%, the report also found.

  • by LindleyF ( 9395567 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @10:09AM (#64681982)
    When the reason for selling is selling, rather than some external factor, putting the brakes on can help preserve market value.
    • Long term this doesn't matter. But I suspect the current correction/sell-of is holders selling at the top of the curve and buying long term US treasuries before the first rate cut.
    • "... putting the brakes on can help preserve market value." Do you also advocate for banning short selling and banning put options?
      • How can anyone still defend, with a straight face, the idea that supply and demand curves dictate prices? In actuality how obvious is it that prices are so heavily manipulated due to the outsize influence of certain individuals and institutions, that all the supply and demand factors are driven out of prices, leaving psychological noise as their predominant nature?

        Further: if prices are noise, and inflation just noise upon noise, why isn't indexation of incomes and savings to price rises the best public pol

      • I'm not advocating for anything. I'm speculating.
    • When the reason for selling is selling, rather than some external factor, putting the brakes on can help preserve market value.

      If your market is that fragile, then you don't really have a market do you? Darwin can not do his magic if we are constantly interfering. We will end up with the worst possible outcome eventually. Guaranteed.

  • and the yield curve briefly inverted

    The yield curve has been in an inverted state for over a year already. What's happening now is that it could return to normal. Normal being that if you want to lend out your money for a long time you get a higher interest rate, not a lower.

    • "Normal" being Yellen directing the government to borrow at higher short-term rates while avoiding long-term cheap debt...
    • and the yield curve briefly inverted

      The yield curve has been in an inverted state for over a year already. What's happening now is that it could return to normal. Normal being that if you want to lend out your money for a long time you get a higher interest rate, not a lower.

      Yes, the end of CHEEP MONEY is now penetrating the markets. Here comes THE PAIN.

      Ppl worldwide that bet on "carry trades" are now getting squeezed because they might have bought into high interest rate bearing investments with very low interest loans of Japanese Yen. Now that the Yen's value is rising that cheep money is squeezing out the profit margin on those "carry trades" so people are selling selling selling in hopes of getting out of those "carry trade" investments before they are forced to take a bath

      • What if you have things backwards?

        Did you know that the cross-currency basis makes the carry trade actually go the other way: start with dollars, swap into yen, then when you swap back into dollars you get more than you started with, because of the cross-currency basis?

        Also, in panics like now, don't US bonds typically become safe havens, so the interest rates actually go down, decreasing the cost of borrowing?

        • Playing with FOREX transactions can get pretty complicated so I simply avoid that stuff. Plus the fact you need up-to-the-minute info to survive in that trading. IMHO options trading is only slightly less stressful than FOREX trading, and both can jack your blood pressure to the Moon.

          In the USA yes, money will move towards bonds when the market is perceived to be entering or is in a recession. Are bonds a safe bet? In a bankruptcy scenario, better than being a shareholder. Otherwise, better than stuffing yo

  • Recession (Score:5, Insightful)

    by akw0088 ( 7073305 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @10:41AM (#64682122)
    Weak job market, market sell off, companies quietly getting rid of employees. Seems like the Covid recession is finally here
    • Re:Recession (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Tailhook ( 98486 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @11:53AM (#64682444)

      Weak job market, market sell off, companies quietly getting rid of employees. Seems like the Covid recession is finally here

      The R word isn't going to be permitted with the election cycle so close and the establishment incumbency on the line.

      • So true dat!
      • by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

        They've been blowing smoke up our ass for the past 3 years about inflation and how great the economy is, so I don't see how you could possibly be wrong.

        Things have been in recession for quite some time. We never actually recovered from 2008, so this is effectively just round 2...

  • by kiviQr ( 3443687 ) on Monday August 05, 2024 @01:39PM (#64682892)
    Is that a goal burn country down so Democrats don't win? 2.5% drop .. erased 1 month of profits... and most media agencies are pushing Black Monday, Market Crash.
    • Of course it is.

      Republicans are always happy when America loses. And when the country loses on their watch, they just lie about the loss and say it never happened.

      FYI 8 of the 10 biggest 1-day sell-offs happened on Trump's watch. Today doesn't even make the top 10. Were they all saying the same shit on those days about him and his administration?

  • One jobs report that says the latest INCREASE in jobs is less than they'd like and everyone panics. Companies laid off workers, less people are employed, unemployed people spend less and buy less, company profits go down, it's all a self fulfilling prophecy. My guess is the layoffs were an attempt to keep wages down and make employees feel less empowered, and now they're afraid it has backfired and they won't be able to get those employees back. Take Intel for example, they are ramping up the constructio

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