7 ms·

It's always been either completely down or having a huge lag in executing orders at market open for the last 6 business days. That leap year bug was a hoax. Rob

by gadnuk 7y ago

It's always been either completely down or having a huge lag in executing orders at market open for the last 6 business days. That leap year bug was a hoax. Robinhood just can't scale under heavy load. I wonder if people will leave the platform en masse to alternatives as most brokers have no fees on trades these days.

packetlost 7y ago
The company never said their downtime was related to the leap year afaik, that was some random twitter thread looking at requests on their browser that had datestamps from the future (which could have other explanations). Unless they're rolling their own date library (which is very unlikely), the code should be using the system time of whatever computer the software is running on, meaning it would be extremely unlikely that the leap year caused a bug. You are correct in that it's more likely their system just can't scale.
xenospn 7y ago
Something tells me Robinhood users will abandon stocks altogether after this week.
- Gunax 7y ago
  I never understood the appeal of using a telephone to trade one's life savings anyway.
  - guiriduro 7y ago
    Personally, I never understood the appeal of holding corporate fiat paper however it was transacted.
    - unethical_ban 7y ago
      Because that can turn into federal fiat money used to buy food, save for retirement or go on vacation.
    - IAmEveryone 7y ago
      Yeah, but that’s just because you have trouble grasping immaterial concepts, and also object permanence.
  - noirbot 7y ago
    I don't see how it's worse to do it on a phone than your laptop, or over the phone with a broker via a voice call? Most folks I know who use RH just use it as a fun little side gamble/game. Small-ish amounts of money, something they could afford to lose, with the rest in more stable funds or investments.
    - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
      I agree, both that that's my experience and that it's the right way to use RH. But then that means this isn't exactly an existential crisis; if you can't run your side gamble during some periods of high market volatility, does it really matter?
      - noirbot 7y ago
        On one hand, now is a fun/important time to be messing with your side gamble. It'd be like if a betting site went down the day of the Super Bowl. If you're just using RH to gamble and day-trade, periods of high volatility are some of the most fun times to be actively trading! On the other hand, I don't really care. I'll be fine. Most of the folks I know who use RH are just joking about it being down. It's annoying, but no one's broken up about it. A lot of the folks casting their anger at RH seem to be folks who already dislike it and probably don't use it? Professional or large-scaled investors with large sums invested probably aren't using RH for a lot of reasons even before you get to the downtime issues.
    - Gunax 7y ago
      Maybe I'm an old grumpy man, but I just prefer a real computer for serious work. It probably works fine, but I am never as confident on a touch screen. I even prefer to order pizza on a desktop.
- smachiz 7y ago
  Why trade stocks when you can trade OPTIONS?
ryanSrich 7y ago
Are there RH competitors? Same level of easy tech, free trading, etc?
- philipkiely 7y ago
  Almost all discount brokerages now offer commission free trades
  - wocram 7y ago
    But not for options trading, which is the main allure.
    - wasdfff 7y ago
      Its only like 60 cents per contract on think or swim. If that makes or breaks you, pull your $7 out of the market and stop trading.
- jdhn 7y ago
  Vanguard now has free trades. Their UI isn't as slick as RH's, but AFAIK their back end is battle tested and has a lower liklihood of going down.
buckminster 7y ago
Surprisingly, last week's outages didn't drive their customers away. They still have enough demand to crash their systems. Inertia is powerful.
- rajnathani 7y ago
  It takes a few days to transfer money from your Robinhood account to your bank account.
johannsg 7y ago
I did just that early last year when I realized that they simply don’t have the infrastructure, support personnel or sense of urgency I needed from a broker to handle my money. This is pre-free trades — I decided that I rather pay a fee than roll the dice on when they’ll clear trades and bank transfers (in one instance an ACH took 2-weeks, with canned messages from support).

by gadnuk 7y ago

packetlost 7y ago

The company never said their downtime was related to the leap year afaik, that was some random twitter thread looking at requests on their browser that had datestamps from the future (which could have other explanations). Unless they're rolling their own date library (which is very unlikely), the code should be using the system time of whatever computer the software is running on, meaning it would be extremely unlikely that the leap year caused a bug. You are correct in that it's more likely their system just can't scale.

xenospn 7y ago

Something tells me Robinhood users will abandon stocks altogether after this week.

Gunax 7y ago
I never understood the appeal of using a telephone to trade one's life savings anyway.
- guiriduro 7y ago
  Personally, I never understood the appeal of holding corporate fiat paper however it was transacted.
  - unethical_ban 7y ago
    Because that can turn into federal fiat money used to buy food, save for retirement or go on vacation.
  - IAmEveryone 7y ago
    Yeah, but that’s just because you have trouble grasping immaterial concepts, and also object permanence.
- noirbot 7y ago
  I don't see how it's worse to do it on a phone than your laptop, or over the phone with a broker via a voice call? Most folks I know who use RH just use it as a fun little side gamble/game. Small-ish amounts of money, something they could afford to lose, with the rest in more stable funds or investments.
  - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
    I agree, both that that's my experience and that it's the right way to use RH. But then that means this isn't exactly an existential crisis; if you can't run your side gamble during some periods of high market volatility, does it really matter?
    - noirbot 7y ago
      On one hand, now is a fun/important time to be messing with your side gamble. It'd be like if a betting site went down the day of the Super Bowl. If you're just using RH to gamble and day-trade, periods of high volatility are some of the most fun times to be actively trading! On the other hand, I don't really care. I'll be fine. Most of the folks I know who use RH are just joking about it being down. It's annoying, but no one's broken up about it. A lot of the folks casting their anger at RH seem to be folks who already dislike it and probably don't use it? Professional or large-scaled investors with large sums invested probably aren't using RH for a lot of reasons even before you get to the downtime issues.
  - Gunax 7y ago
    Maybe I'm an old grumpy man, but I just prefer a real computer for serious work. It probably works fine, but I am never as confident on a touch screen. I even prefer to order pizza on a desktop.
smachiz 7y ago
Why trade stocks when you can trade OPTIONS?

ryanSrich 7y ago

Are there RH competitors? Same level of easy tech, free trading, etc?

philipkiely 7y ago
Almost all discount brokerages now offer commission free trades
- wocram 7y ago
  But not for options trading, which is the main allure.
  - wasdfff 7y ago
    Its only like 60 cents per contract on think or swim. If that makes or breaks you, pull your $7 out of the market and stop trading.
jdhn 7y ago
Vanguard now has free trades. Their UI isn't as slick as RH's, but AFAIK their back end is battle tested and has a lower liklihood of going down.

buckminster 7y ago

Surprisingly, last week's outages didn't drive their customers away. They still have enough demand to crash their systems. Inertia is powerful.

rajnathani 7y ago
It takes a few days to transfer money from your Robinhood account to your bank account.

johannsg 7y ago

I did just that early last year when I realized that they simply don’t have the infrastructure, support personnel or sense of urgency I needed from a broker to handle my money. This is pre-free trades — I decided that I rather pay a fee than roll the dice on when they’ll clear trades and bank transfers (in one instance an ACH took 2-weeks, with canned messages from support).