Broker conflicts that only show on busy days

[Fairman]

Broker conflicts that only show on busy days

Everything works when the market is slow. Orders fill, spreads stay tight, support answers promptly. The test of a broker is a busy day.

On a heavy news day or in a risk-off panic, a broker's infrastructure and policies are under stress. Platforms lag, support queues grow, and conflicts of interest show.

A broker that takes the other side of client trades has more reason to widen spreads, delay fills, or reject orders when clients are on the wrong side of a big move. A broker that passes orders to the market has more concern about its own liquidity providers pulling back.

A decent evaluation covers at least a few high-volatility days before committing serious size. Record the spreads, fills, and rejections. Compare to quiet days.

Online reviews are unreliable, because they come from both sides of a dispute. A direct test at small size is more informative.

It's also worth asking how the broker handled the last few major events. Some have public statements or incident reports. Silence is itself a data point.

Compared with a normal day, how did the busiest day look on execution?