What is your broker's up time % ?

Q

qll

Ameritrade is down too many times this year.
When your broker is down. What do you do?

Close positions by phone?
Hedge the positions in another account?
Sue them for margin calls, loss etc.
 
I have Ameritrade too and have the same problem getting in. I can't really complain though, a few days ago I bought lots of AAPL July puts, made a killing and sold them earlier today before the site went down. I actually would like to now buy the July calls on anticipation of an oversold bounce, but can't get in.

You have the right idea though. I have another account with Etrade with additional capital there. If something happens on one site and I am stuck in a position and am losing money, my contingency plan is to hedge that position in the other account.

Although the stability of my broker is critical, I personally factor in outages as part of the risks of trading. Which is why I have a contingency plan for that, although i've only had to use it once. This is only the second time i've noticed a problem with Ameritrade and iv'e been trading with them for 4 years. At the end of the day though, I have to do whatever it takes to preserve my capital....if that means having a backup broker account, so be it.
 
Please accept our apologies for any difficulty you may have experienced
accessing the TD AMERITRADE Web site the morning of 07/14/2006. As of
11:30 a.m. CT, access was restored to the site. As a courtesy, I have
posted 5 commission-free Internet equity trades good for 30 days to
your account. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this
matter.

In the future, if your inquiry or request concerns a trading or market
sensitive issue, we strongly urge you to phone our Apex Team toll free
at 888-871-9007 or from most areas outside of the United States,
800-598-2629, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If we are experiencing Web site
difficulties, a Broker will happily place your trade at the Internet
rate. Apex brokers are available Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to
7:00 p.m., CST.
More...

What a joke. $50 worth commissions
 
Quote from qll:

Ameritrade is down too many times this year.
When your broker is down. What do you do?

Close positions by phone?
Hedge the positions in another account?
Sue them for margin calls, loss etc.
More...

ib is my broker. cant remember the last time they were down.
 
Anybody who sticks with brokers that are down too often must rethink their strategy.

For me, once is more than enough a reason to bail. It's ll cost you more than the commission you are trying to save.
 
I once used the ScottTrade Elite platform and it seemed to go down in the morning every other day. Sometimes it was down for a few minutes, sometimes much longer. Needless to say, active traders shouldn't bother with this platform.
 
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