US Brokerage Websites Perform Poorly to High Trading Activity

Can brokerage websites handle massive customer visits?

Tuesday was a bad day for the websites of several US brokerage firms. In the wake of Monday’s record stock market drop of 1,175 points, several websites either crashed or operated painfully slowly as customers took action the following day.

Fidelity said late Tuesday morning that they finally overcame what were intermittent technical glitches on its website. Earlier that morning customers were greeted with the following message when they tried to access Fidelity’s website: “Our homepage is temporarily unavailable but don’t worry, we’re working quickly to fix this problem.”

Visitors to the Ameritrade website saw this message on Tuesday: “Due to volatile market conditions we are currently experiencing slowness on our web platform.” The company recommended customers try a mobile app or other related company website for information or access.

The social media platform Twitter hosted complaints from those trying to get into the Merrill Edge website which is operated by Bank of America. A spokesman issued the following statement: “Our systems remain operational. Some clients reported slowness logging into My Merrill and Merrill Edge due to unprecedented trading volume.”

Monday’s crash was the largest point drop in stock market history. On Tuesday the market opened down an additional 500 points but rallied during the first half hour of trading to climb back into positive territory. By noon on Tuesday the market was up by 52 points.

Back in November Fidelity experienced some down time on their website that disallowed customers from reaching their online accounts. The company offered free trades by way of compensation.

On Monday several brokerages experienced temporary issues of sluggishness on their websites, such as T.Rowe Price and TD Ameritrade. The issues were quickly resolved.