Broker outage playbook: how to flatten without panic

[LondonScalper]

Platform freezes mid-London. Mobile app spins. VPS terminal is a white box. That’s not a “setup” problem — it’s an exit problem.

I keep a written outage playbook so I don’t invent one while stressed.

Pre-committed steps
1. Second path ready: webtrader / second device / phone app already logged in (test monthly).
2. Know the flatten path: one-click close all if it exists; otherwise hotkey sequence practiced when calm.
3. Broker phone / chat: number saved; what to say (“close all market positions on login X”) — no debate about the trade idea.
4. Risk assumption: if I can’t confirm flat in N minutes, I treat exposure as uncontrolled and stop adding for the day even after recovery.
5. Post-mortem: screenshot errors, timestamps, ticket IDs — for the broker and for my journal.

What I don’t do
• Open a “hedge” somewhere else without knowing net exposure.
• Refresh-spam until the session is a mess.
• Pretend it didn’t happen in the journal.

If you’ve had a real outage: what worked, what failed, and did the broker make you whole on obvious platform faults?

Process notes only — not advice.

[PropScalpDesk]

Outage: flatten path rehearsed monthly

Platform white-screen mid-session is an exit problem. I keep a written playbook so I do not design one while heart rate is elevated.

Pre-committed steps from this desk:

• Second path already logged in (webtrader or phone) — tested on a quiet Friday, not discovered during London
• One-click flatten / close-all known cold
• If both paths fail: broker desk number and account identifiers on a paper card, not inside the frozen VPS

I do not open new ideas while recovering connectivity. The only allowed action is risk to flat or confirmed reduce. Afterwards I log timestamp, symbol, and whether the mobile path worked — that log is what makes the next outage boring.

Prop accounts get the same playbook; arguing about a soft breach later is harder if you could not even flatten.

After any live outage I schedule a five-minute retro the same day: which path worked, which path lied, and whether the paper desk card was current. The playbook that is not rehearsed is fiction.

When did you last actually test the phone flatten path end-to-end, not just check that the app opens?