TSX closure due to technical glitch is nothing new for major stock exchanges

If you were hitting refresh on your stock market portfolio Friday but nothing was moving you now know why.

The TSX shut down early due to unspecified technical issues, leaving investors with an unplanned early start to their weekend.

“TMX today experienced an internal technical issue affecting service on Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV), TSX Alpha Exchange (Alpha) and Montreal Exchange (MX), beginning at 1:37:25 pm on MX and 1:39:13 pm EDT on TSX, TSX V, and Alpha. We have identified the issue and are working to rectify,” the exchange explained in a press release. “Due to the timing and nature of the issue, TMX has decided to shut down trading on all markets for the remainder of the day.”

The exchange says it will be business as usual on Monday morning. At least one observer doesn’t think the shutdown will have lasting implications for the TSX.

“It’s kind of amateur hour to have your systems go down,” Barry Schwartz of Toronto-based Baskin Wealth Management told the Globe and Mail. “But it happens, adding: “I don’t think that the market will be too unkind to the TMX Group’s stock next week. As long as they have it up and a good explanation, all will be forgiven.”

Schwartz’s take on the impact of the shutdown is backed by a surprising amount of recent data. In fact, most major exchanges have suffered through similar experiences in the past few years, and have bounced back unscathed.

On July 8, 2015, The New York Stock Exchange was shuttered for nearly four hours by a technical glitch. Though the problems were first suspected to be part of a broad based cyber attack -United Airlines and The Wall Street Journal were also experiencing difficulties- the U.S. Department of Homeland Security quelled those fears, and the NYSE closed in the green the following day.

In August of 2013, the Nasdaq suffered a three hour shutdown due to a connectivity issue between an exchange participant and the Securities Information Processor, which is consolidated live stream and aggregator of quotes. Like the NYSE, the Nasdaq Composite was up the next day.

And in 2011, The London Stock Exchange suspended trading three minutes into the trading day after discovering a flaw in its own system, which had just gone through a 15-month long replacement. The exchange reopened some four hours later, closing up to end a multi-session losing streak.

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