Fidelity Users Locked Out amid Market Rally Due to Login Outage

A technical glitch at Fidelity Investments prevented thousands of customers from accessing their accounts on May 12 as U.S. markets surged following news of temporary tariff cuts between the U.S. and China.

More than 3,000 users reported issues around 10 a.m., according to Downdetector, a website that tracks service disruptions. Of these complaints, 79% cited login problems, 12% reported website-related issues, and 9% were related to online brokerage access.

Upset man in front of a laptop | Source: Pexels

The outage coincided with a major rally in U.S. stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1,136 points, or 2.7%, while the S&P 500 gained nearly 3% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 4% by mid-afternoon.

Fidelity acknowledged the login issues and confirmed in the early afternoon that the problem had been resolved. The company did not disclose the cause of the disruption.

Industry experts noted the incident’s potential impact on active traders. “Not having access to their brokerage accounts during big market swings can hurt their strategies because they are actively managing their portfolios,” said Lazetta Rainey Braxton, a certified financial planner and member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

Upset man talking on the phone | Source: Pexels

However, Braxton added that long-term investors were unlikely to be significantly affected, as most investors are not chasing the market. Technical disruptions at brokerages are not unprecedented. In August, similar outages at both Fidelity and Charles Schwab occurred during a market downturn.