Vanguard, Fidelity Investments & Charles Schwab ‘crash’ with users unable to log in to websites during Wall Street chaos

FINANCIAL site outages are plaguing the tech world as Wall Street takes a tumble.

The widespread outages impacted thousands of users.

X/fpz25

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images - Getty

Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, and Charles Schwabs’ websites experienced large-scale technical difficulties on Monday, August 5, 2024.

Thousands of users experienced issues across the sites, according to data tracked by Downdetector .

The outages come as Wall Street’s indexes fall at the open following weak economic data and poor second-quarter earnings, per Reuters .

This caused recession fears and “prompted a rush out of everything from equities to crypto.”

Schwab was down for over 15,000 users, Fidelity for more than 3,000, and Vanguard for over 3,800, according to Downdetector’s data.

Other financial websites such as TD Ameritrade , E-Trade, and Citi also experienced issues.

Over 1,700 Ameritrade users, more than 150 E-Trade users, and more than 10 Citi users experienced outages.

USER BACKLASH

Users raged about the outages on social media .

James Miller shared a screenshot from Vanguard’s website on X that said, “Our site is undergoing scheduled maintenance.

“Please log on to access your accounts, or try again later.”

Miller wrote, “Vanguard won’t let me trade.

“Anyone else?”

He then posted a screenshot that said, “500 Internal Server Error.”

He wrote, “And now they’ve crashed.”

Multiple users commented under Miller’s post, with one revealing that he was at first able to trade with Vanguard, but then the site stopped working.

“Tried to pick up another 1000 shares of NVDA when it was 91 a share…no clue if it went through,” the user continued.

“Are they trying to stop panicking investors? I mean, probably good for them, but sucks for me right now.”

Another wrote, “Both the site and the app are down. Disappointing but not surprising.”

Frank Zanca addressed Schwab on X, sharding a screenshot of a login error and writing , “@CharlesSchwab is there an issue with logging in?”

The screenshot read, “The login service is temporarily unavailable.

“We’re working to resolve the problem.”

5 risks of crypto investments

BELOW we round up five risks of investing in cryptocurrencies.

• Consumer protection : Some investments advertising high returns based on cryptoassets may not be subject to regulation beyond anti-money laundering requirements.
• Price volatility : Significant price volatility in cryptoassets, combined with the inherent difficulties of valuing cryptoassets reliably, places consumers at a high risk of losses.
• Product complexity : The complexity of some products and services relating to cryptoassets can make it hard for consumers to understand the risks. There is no guarantee that cryptoassets can be converted back into cash. Converting a cryptoasset back to cash depends on demand and supply existing in the market.
• Charges and fees : Consumers should consider the impact of fees and charges on their investment which may be more than those for regulated investment products.
• Marketing materials : Firms may overstate the returns of products or understate the risks involved.

Another user, @gungirlnyc , claimed her nephew was unable to log back into Schwab’s website “with cons in play” and shared a screenshot of an error message she received from Fidelity after making a trade.

The screenshot read, “We’ve run into a small problem.

“An unexpected technical error on our end prevented us from displaying this information. Please try again.”

The user also wrote, “It’s so strange how the brokers function all the time and then when it’s important they’re like ‘Oh sorry!’

“Now everyone is scrambling for a desktop.”

COMPANIES SPEAK OUT

Charles Schwab released a statement regarding the outages.

In response to Zanca’s X post, the corporation wrote , “Due to a technical issue, some clients may have difficulty logging in to Schwab platforms.

“We’re working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

“Please accept our apologies as our teams work to resolve the issue. Hold times may be longer than usual.”

Fidelity also issued a statement to users, saying that the problem has been solved.

In response to @gungirlnyc’s X post, the investment company wrote , “Thank you for reaching out. We are aware some customers may have experienced issues logging in to Fidelity platforms earlier today.

“This is now resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

X/realMeetJames

Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images - Getty

Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images - Getty