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Industry Spotlight > Clearing and Custodial Firms

TD Ameritrade Site Outages Anger Clients

By Dinah Wisenberg Brin

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What You Need to Know

  • A spokesperson said that some clients were unable to access the TD Ameritrade website due to an intermittent technical issue.
  • There also appeared to be problems with the Thinkorswim platform on desktop.
  • Reports of outages now appear to be minimal.

TD Ameritrade says it has resolved problems with its website as of 12:30 p.m. ET Friday.

In the morning, the brokerage told clients via Twitter that it was aware of the need to “fix a known issue with our site” and suggested that they use a different web address.

In addition to problems with the main TD Ameritrade website, several posts on Twitter on Friday mentioned issues with the broker’s Thinkorswim (TOS) trading platform, although investors said they could close trades on the TOS mobile app.

The Thinkorswim issues were “quickly resolved,” according to the platform’s Twitter account.

A TD Ameritrade spokesperson said via email at 11:30 a.m. ET that “due to an intermittent technical issue, some clients may be unable to access the web page, tdameritrade.com. Clients can access their accounts for all trading needs at invest.Ameritrade.com. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

The spokesperson added: “The thinkorswim application is not currently experiencing any issues. Clients can continue to trade on thinkorswim.”

Roughly an hour later, the spokesperson confirmed that tdameritrade.com had been restored.

Downdetector noted that clients were reporting problems with the TD Ameritrade website at roughly 11 a.m. ET, and one individual suggested that there were Thinkorswim problems on the desktop version of the platform, but not on the mobile app. As of 12:30 p.m. ET, reports of outage issues were minimal.

Morning Mess

One Twitter user posted at 9:30 a.m. ET: “I can’t access TD Ameritrade. Chrome and Edge browsers on laptop, windows. It worked fine yesterday. WTH?”

TD Ameritrade replied: “We apologize for the inconvenience as we work to restore the website. For now, you will want to access the classic version of our website directly by visiting http://invest.ameritrade.com.”

“Thankful it just wasn’t me who couldn’t access it.  And thank you for providing a workaround @TDAmeritrade,” another Twitter account replied.

Around 10:35 a.m., another Twitter account asked what was going on, tweeting, “Trades are all screwed up!”

TD Ameritrade responded that it was “investigating intermittent issues with the website at this time.”

“Wow nice no warning about changing the web home page. @TDAmeritrade,” one Twitter account posted at 9:23 a.m. ET, shortly before the stock market opened Friday.

TD Ameritrade’s account soon responded: “Hello, we are sorry for any confusion. There is a known issue with the TDA next gen website. You may be accessing the classic version of our website today, which will have a different appearance and home screen.”

Downdetector, which tracks technical issues with websites, posted a chart showing a spike in outages for TD Ameritrade starting about 8 a.m. ET. Roughly 77% of problems were tied to the website and 18% to login issues at 10 a.m.

“User reports indicate problems at TD Ameritrade,” the site said.

Meanwhile, several Twitter posts indicated investors had problems with orders on Thinkorswim. At 10:45 a.m., the TD Ameritrade Twitter account posted that the firm was working to restore full functionality to the TD Ameritrade website and to Thinkorswim, and gave a number for further assistance.

And Thinkorswim tweeted at 11:23 a.m.: “Hello. We did briefly have reports of some clients not seeing active orders on tos. This issue was quickly resolved, and if you have an order you’d like reviewed please just give us a call.”

“No orders working for me on TOS. Had to open my phone and close order on mobile app. Even then the wheel spun for about a minute,” one user tweeted around 11 a.m. About 20 minutes later, that Twitter account posted that Thinkorswim was “working normally again.”

One self-described options trader tweeted: “Pissed. @TDAmeritrade and @thinkorswim ate at my profit today because of failed/delayed executions and an absolute Active Trader nightmare. Unacceptable.”

(Photo: Shutterstock)

Dinah Wisenberg Brin

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