A Fidelity Investments branch.
Nicholas Pfosi | The Boston Globe | Getty Images
Some Fidelity Investments customers experienced login issues Monday morning as the market rallied.
More than 3,000 user complaints were reported around 10 a.m., according to Downdetector, a website that tracks outages. About 79% of the reports were login issues, 12% were website-related issues and 9% were online brokerage related, per the site.
The Fidelity login issues occurred as major stock indices spiked on the news that China and the U.S. had agreed to temporary tariff cuts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,136 points, or 2.7%, by mid-afternoon. The S&P 500 is up nearly 3% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 4%.
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Fidelity told CNBC the firm was aware of the issues, and during the early afternoon announced the issue was resolved. Fidelity did not specify the cause of the technical issues.
Limited ability to trade in a big market day
The brokerage’s login issue may have been a greater problem for day traders, institutional investors and options investors, or investors who want to buy at a certain price before the market jumps, said certified financial planner Lazetta Rainey Braxton, the founder and managing principal of The Real Wealth Coterie.
Not having access to their brokerage accounts during big market swings can hurt their strategies because they are actively managing their portfolios, said Braxton, a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.
But for long-haul investors, a login glitch that lasts a few hours might not make a huge difference, she said.
“Most investors are not chasing the market,” Braxton added.
‘Remain calm’
Technical issues at brokerages have happened in the past. In August, customers of Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments were unable to trade in the middle of a steep market sell-off of global equities.
If a blip like this happens again, “it is important for investors to remain calm,” said Carolyn McClanahan, a certified financial planner and the founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida. She is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.
While it can be a grievance at the moment, such technical difficulties are temporary — “these outages usually don’t last long,” said CFP Cathy Curtis, the founder and CEO of Curtis Financial Planning in Oakland, California.
And besides, “tech outages will not affect the value of investments,” said Curtis, who is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.
