The market plummeted at the end of the session, the shares that Thuy Linh held also dropped sharply, but she had no way to log into the account she opened at VNDirect to exit the stock.
Thuy Linh describes herself as "addicted" to trading, because her capital turnover time is only measured in days. Recent sessions are Linh's favorite time, because the market is volatile. While surfing T+ on the underlying market and "playing" derivatives, Linh - a not too busy office worker - spends most of her time looking at the electricity board. But today this habit changes.
At 8:30, Linh received a notification that the system of VNDirect - where she opened a stock account - had a problem. The broker reassured that the technical team has fixed it and is trying to reconnect. "Hope for your understanding, hopefully the system will be back to normal before opening time," Linh's broker texted. But the "hope" that Linh was waiting for did not happen.
Every 15 minutes, she tried to log in to the online trading platform but only stopped at the "information verification" step. She went to stock groups to wait for news and all she received was an apology and "hope for understanding". Seeing that the market is still in the green, Linh hopes that there won't be any big fluctuations on the day she "stands out", when her portfolio is more than 80% stocks.
At 14:3,8 p.m., the market plummeted. MSN, the stock with the highest proportion in Linh's portfolio, continuously decreased. Linh called the broker to ask if there was any other way to trade, but it didn't work. At the end of the session, MSN lost XNUMX%. Linh didn't know how much her account had lost because she couldn't log into the system, so she only mentally calculated the number to be tens of millions of dong.
Unlike Linh, Duy Anh was impatient because he couldn't log in to catch the bottom, when VN-Index dropped nearly 20 points in the middle of this afternoon's session. "The market is in a 'hot' period, stocks are volatile, standing out like this makes me lose investment opportunities," said the 28-year-old investor.
In the early morning, like other investors opening accounts, Duy Anh received a notification that the VNDirect system had a problem. His broker reassured him that "everything is under control" and the system will return to trading soon. By early afternoon, his broker said the system was still in the process of being fixed and recommended not adding more money to his account to avoid problems.
Trading on the floor of a securities company in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Image: Quynh Tran
According to some investors and experts, a breakdown of the trading system at a securities company will directly affect the "money pockets" of those with securities accounts.
"Missing the opportunity to sell before the market drops or not being able to catch the bottom in a deep drop are all 'costs' that investors must bear when staying out of the market this afternoon," Duy Anh said.
However, quantifying losses will be difficult to determine because the market is always fluctuating. Investors who cannot sell before the market turns red today can even be considered lucky if the market returns tomorrow. On the contrary, if tomorrow's session drops, those who have not caught the bottom today can buy at a lower price.
"Determining investors' losses will be very difficult because the stock market is always fluctuating, but securities companies will lose something bigger than image and reputation," said the head of consulting at a securities company in Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi commented.
On groups, some investors lost their composure and said they would consider withdrawing money and switching to another securities company when the VNDirect system operates again, to avoid similar risks from occurring. If this happens, the brokerage market share - VNDirect's strong point - will be affected.
The race for market share among securities companies is becoming increasingly tense as new factors continuously offer many preferential policies to attract customers. Even companies that once said they would not race on fees had to "step down". VNDirect is the third company in HoSE brokerage market share in 2023, with a scale of more than VND 83.000 billion in assets under management for investors. "Certainly the damage will not just stop at numbers," said an expert.
Analysts also recommend that investors can allocate assets to many different securities companies to avoid local risks in one unit that may affect investment.
According to Article 20 of Circular 121 regulating the operations of securities companies, market members are obliged to ensure continuous and smooth online transactions, ensuring security, safety and data confidentiality of the system. system and have backup systems and alternative plans in case of problems.
Previously, in the early hours of this morning, VNDirect Securities sent a notice to investors stating that this company's system had been attacked since 10:24 a.m. on March 3. The company said that its system was attacked by an international organization, but affirmed that all customer information and assets are guaranteed to be safe and not affected by the incident.
At 20:25 p.m. on March 3, VNDirect's website still only reported the problem and said it was "currently in the process of fixing it". This company's online trading platforms cannot be logged in yet.
Minh Son
