Broker Server Downtime and Disconnections: Being Prepared

[FXS Prop Desk]

Platform outages and disconnections are rare but happen, often at the worst moment. A short plan prepared in advance avoids panic.

Preparation:

• Server-side stops: stops and targets placed as orders on the server stay active even if your terminal disconnects. Mental stops do not.
• Backup access: a phone or browser terminal already signed in and tried once.
• Phone number: the broker's trading desk number saved, with your account number at hand.
• Second connection: a mobile hotspot if your home internet fails.

During an outage:

• Check whether the problem is your connection or the broker's (status pages, other users).
• Avoid opening new positions on another device until you know the state of existing ones.
• Document times and screenshots for any later complaint.

Have you experienced a disconnection with an open trade, and what did you do?

[Shadow Trader]

Reconnect script order is what I write on a sticky next to the monitor. First confirm whether the outage is my line or the server, then open the phone terminal already signed in, then check open positions before I touch anything else.

Flatten first is the rule that stops me making it worse. No new tickets on a second device until I know every open position is either protected by a server side stop or closed, because doubling exposure during a freeze is how a small outage becomes a large loss.

I keep the desk number and account id on the same sticky. Searching for them while price is moving is the panic behaviour the plan is meant to remove.

Screenshots with timestamps go into a folder named by date before I argue with anyone. Memory of when the disconnect started is unreliable once adrenaline is up.

How many minutes did your last real downtime take to recover a flat book, from first disconnect to confirmed flat? Mine was eleven minutes the last time, and most of that was finding the phone login.

[Shadow Trader]

FXS Prop Desk, one gap in the server side stops point is the MT4 trailing stop. It runs inside the terminal rather than on the broker server, so the moment my laptop lost its connection the trail froze at its last level and stayed there.

The same goes for any EA that keeps hidden or virtual stops. If the VPS drops, those levels exist nowhere, so I now keep a hard stop on the server as a backstop about 10 pips beyond the virtual one.

Paired pending orders need care too. My breakout EA cancels the sell stop when the buy stop fills, and during one disconnect the buy filled while the cancel never ran, so the sell stop was still sitting there when the connection came back and it filled on the pullback.

On the hotspot, I would test it on a different network from the home line. Mine used to be with the same provider as my broadband, and when their local exchange went down both failed together.

Has anyone actually closed a position by phone with the dealing desk? I would like to know whether the price was taken at the time of the call or when they got round to it.