The market plummeted at the end of the session, the stocks that Thuy Linh held also fell sharply but she had no way to log into her account opened at VNDirect to sell her stocks.
Thuy Linh admits that she is addicted to trading, because her capital turnover time is only calculated in days. Recent sessions are Linh's favorite time, because the market is volatile. While surfing T+ on the underlying market and "trading" derivatives, Linh - a not-so-busy office worker - spends most of her time looking at the board. But today this habit has changed.
At 8:30 a.m., Linh received a notification that the VNDirect system - where she opened a securities account - was having problems. The broker assured her that the technical team had fixed the problem and was trying to reconnect. "We hope you understand, hopefully the system will be back to normal before opening time," Linh's broker texted. But the "hope" 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 were apologies and "pleading for understanding". Seeing the market still in green, Linh hoped that there would not be any major fluctuations on the day she "stayed out", when more than 80% of her portfolio was stocks.
2:00 p.m., the market plummeted. MSN, the stock with the highest proportion in Linh's portfolio, continued to decline. Linh called her broker to ask if there was any other way to trade, but it was ineffective. At the end of the session, MSN lost 3.8%. Linh did not know how much her account had lost because she could not log into the system, only calculating the number in the tens of millions of dong.
Unlike Linh, Duy Anh was impatient because he could not log in to catch the bottom, when the VN-Index dropped nearly 20 points in the middle of this afternoon's session. "The market is in a 'hot' phase, stocks are fluctuating, staying out like this makes me miss out on investment opportunities," said the 28-year-old investor.
Early in the morning, like other investors who opened accounts, Duy Anh received a notice that the VNDirect system was having problems. His broker assured him that "everything is under control" and the system would soon resume trading. By early afternoon, his broker said the system was still in the process of being fixed and recommended not to add more money to the account to avoid problems.
Trading on the floor of a securities company in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Quynh Tran
According to some investors and experts, a failure of the trading system at a securities company will directly affect the "wallets" of those with securities accounts.
"Missing the opportunity to sell before the market drops or not being able to catch the bottom when it drops deeply are all 'costs' that investors have to bear when staying out of the market this afternoon," Duy Anh said.
However, quantifying the losses will be difficult because the market is always volatile. Investors who did not have time to sell before the market turned red today can even be considered lucky if the market rebounds tomorrow. On the contrary, if tomorrow's session falls, those who did not have time to buy at the bottom today can buy at a lower price.
"It will be difficult to determine investors' losses because the stock market is always volatile, but the securities company will lose something bigger than its image and reputation," said the head of a consulting department at a securities company in Hanoi.
In groups, some investors who lost their composure said they would consider withdrawing money and switching to another securities company when the VNDirect system resumes operation, to avoid similar risks. If this happens, the brokerage market share - VNDirect's strength - will be affected.
The race for market share among securities companies is becoming increasingly tense as new players continuously introduce many preferential policies to attract customers. Even companies that once affirmed that they would not compete on fees have had to "give in". VNDirect is the third company in terms of brokerage market share on the HoSE in 2023, with a scale of more than VND83,000 billion in assets under management for investors. "The damage will certainly not stop at numbers," said an expert.
Analysts also recommend that investors can allocate assets to many different securities companies, to avoid local risks at one unit that can 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, ensure security, safety, and confidentiality of system data, and have a backup system and alternative plan in case of incidents.
Earlier this morning, VNDirect Securities sent a notice to investors stating that the company's system was attacked from 10am on March 24. The company said that its system was attacked by an international organization, but affirmed that all customer information and assets were secure and not affected by the incident.
At 8:00 p.m. on March 25, VNDirect's website only reported the problem and said it was "currently in the process of being fixed." The company's online trading platforms were still inaccessible.
Minh Son
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