All,


Our suppliers have informed us that the LSE is currently having a problem, which is resulting in the slow running of level 1 and level 2, and is effecting all vendors, they are working to resolve it.

Ian

Hardly any LSE stocks showing on CNBC ticker either.

From LSE:

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that the Exchange is experiencing a connectivity issue which it is investigating.

A further update will be issued at 09.30.

LOL, the busiest day of the year. I smell a conspiracy afoot!

ta

funny how IG Index can still get them. There is a 1.5% difference, although CNBC confirm the number you are giving out. Its a bit shit if youv'e shorted it like I have, fortunately took the october price but not the first time i felt the public are being shafted by the spread betting firms

Further update:

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 2

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that the Exchange will be suspending connectivity to resolve the current issue and ensure the market is resumed in a fair and controlled manner.

A further update will be issued in due course.

Time to put the kettle on.

coffee, two sugars please

if the LSE is suspended where are IG getting there prices from. Im bleeding money as they are showing the FTSe up 5.6%

Suspect IG are trying to anticipate what is going to happen.

maybe...long term i smell salivating bears. I just wish I had held my powder a little longer before I shorted at Plus 200

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 3

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that the Exchange continues to implement the appropriate corrective actions.

Following these actions, and to ensure a fair and stable market, all order book segments will be placed in an auction phase. Once connectivity is re-enabled, it will be possible to enter or delete orders, though no electronic execution will occur at that stage. Continuous trading will re-commence at the end of that auction period.

All timings will be confirmed by a further Service Announcement.

Phoned LSE, they dont know when it will be back up and running.We will let everyone know as soon as we know something

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 4

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that in preparation for re-enabling connectivity, the Exchange will be placing all order book segments in to an auction phase.

A further announcement will be issued to confirm when connectivity will be re-enabled.

What a humiliation for the LSE!

Storey - FTSE Futures been trading throughout. Currently still up around 270 points.

Isaacs, should be a bit of a gap up when its does go back into auction which might cause a few issues with stops for those on shorts. Will be a very difficult few hours when it does re-open.

no "humiliation" ...... it is far from uncommon with such large moves and has been seen in NY more often that London .... as i see it, it is just that the order books get swamped, i guess because there is so much AT (computer generated) traffic.

I stand corrected cynic.Nevertheless, busy days should not cause outages in my view.

Does moneyam not show AU on electronically traded stocks ie CDN.

i agree. Companies are sold the sob story by IT companies that they need to have a capacity 10 times bigger than they actually need yet they still fall over. With a parallel hot standby network there should be such resilience that nothing should go down ever. Thats why DR plans exist

I'm not sure I understand this 'busy' day idea. As far as individual stocks go, banks and builders heavily traded and everything else is pretty much ignored and has been for several weeks so overall volumes are surely very poor so why the outage? FTSE opens 180 higher and by and large along with most shares hasn't moved.

john50,

Can you elaborate a little please I am not sure what you mean by AU?

Ian

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 5

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that as previously communicated the Exchange has placed all order driven markets in a continuous auction and quote driven markets in a non-mandatory period.

Connectivity will be re-established once all of the necessary corrective actions have been completed. A further announcement will be issued to confirm when connectivity will be re-enabled and a subsequent announcement will be issued to provide prior notice of when continuous trading will be re-enabled.

Lets hope the shorters take a deserved spanking

The problem with having a parallel 'hot-standby' network is that it costs twice as much -- and it may still go wrong. Hardware will fail, software is never adequately tested, usually because of complexity and the difficulty of simulating 'live' workload.

In my experience of building systems for organizations, it is extrememly difficult to get them to spend sufficicent money to ensure one working system of barely adequate capacity. Sob stories just don't come into it.

Has this changed to a BDSM site??

we might loose the battle but we will still win the war there is no way this is going to fly long term The US has just increased the national debt by 12%. I might be getting spanked but im still smiling

Hi Ian once a share goes into auction AU should appear beside it to let people know the aucton has started, they show it over on advfn.

John,

This would normally show in the status section on Level 2, and the mid price bar would show in purple. However, as this is an exceptional situation that the LSE is it may not show now.

Also, we only show this information on level 2 not on level 1 (stockwatch)

Ian

Bloomberg TV have just said it is the longest outage period in 8 years- and what a day to pick to have an IT glitch.

Gawd - is it still out? :>S

Conspiracy...or cock-up?

LSE say :

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 6

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that the Exchange will be re-enabling connectivity from approximately 11:45 BST.

Following these actions, and to ensure a fair and stable market, all order book segments will remain in an auction phase. Once connectivity is re-established, it will be possible to enter or delete orders, though no electronic execution will occur at this stage.

Continuous trading will re-commence at the end of that auction period, which will be at least 15 minutes after the next service announcement.

Whatever it is I can only imagine the frustration in the city at the mo with lost trading opportunities.

would it be just me that thinks the big players have been wrong footed on this one and thrown a spanner in the works untill they can reposition their trading models

I've become more cynical by the day so no it isn't just you that thinks a conspiracy may be at work whatever anybody says.

I agree.

right picking up rumours of further tech issues at the LSE
PM
Very funny Throg
NH
one of the big banks saying it will not be up and running until 3pm and the market will remain open to 7.00pm

FTalphaville

You can bet some big players will have worked out how to make millions from this

Waiting to see what the Yank's do first.

Reputational disaster for the LSE. Their days are numbered.

adding to my earlier comment , a 3pm kick off is nicely timed to allow the USA market time to realign as well , what a coincidence

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 7

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that the Exchange is continuing to re-establish connectivity with customers.

Once connectivity has been re-established, it will be possible to enter or delete orders, though electronic execution remains disabled.

Continuous trading will re-commence at the end of the auction period, which will be at least 15 minutes after notice is given.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/09/08/bcnlse108.xml

Leading Financial Centre - my arse!

This is a joke - when it is coming back on ??

nord,

we will update you as and when we receive service updates from the LSE and we will let you know as soon as the market resumes trading.

Ian

THANKYOU KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK IAN.

Thanks Ian for keeping us updated

Ian, it must be very frustrating for you. Relax and put your feet up until the feed comes back.

Before lambasting the LSE too heavily, from the description given it sounds like the trading systems are up and running but that communications with the outside world have failed. There is a subtle difference.

Micro - whatever the reason, whatever the excuse, this shouldn't happen on one of the world's leading stock exchanges.

Pond Life

I agree, though the way they are going I think its status as one of the world's leading stock exchanges is likely to slip somewhat.

Latest LSE Update:

2.20pm

We are continuing to establish connectivity with our customers. This process is taking longer than expected.

A further update will be provided.


Once connectivity is established orders can be entered and deleted, but no electronic execution will occur until the uncrossing and commencement of continuous trading.

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 8

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that the Exchange will be suspending connectivity to Trading for a short period of time from 14:45 BST to ensure a controlled reconnection for customers. During this time customers are required to reset their connection status to ensure legitimate connections can be established once connectivity is re-enabled.

Once connectivity has been re-established, it will be possible to enter or delete orders, though electronic execution remains disabled.

Continuous trading will re-commence at the end of the auction period, which will be at least 15 minutes after notice is given.

that'll be fun!

I'm pretty certain that AM's beloved supplier will forget to reset their connection as requested and so totally miss the reopening :-)

The LSE is not alone . . . ICE having problems too.

Last Update: Sep 8, 2008 - 9:38AM ET


ICE Trading Platform Issue - Certain Markets Closed

The ICE trading platform is experiencing technical issues and as a result, certain markets have been closed. Once the issue is resolved, market re-open times will be posted below.

All unexecuted active orders in closed markets have been held.

For current position or deal reports, please select the desired report from the Login Section in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

This page will be updated with additional information regarding this issue and updated market status.

Pond Life, coeliac1:

So what you are saying is that nothing should go wrong, ever :)

No if you understand IT. There should be 3 of everything to cover things like this. A nuclear bomb should be able to hit london and the delivery should be routed to another datacentre, even if that is in India. There is no excuse for something like this happening. I am 100% in the conspiracy camp

No if you understand IT :))))))

What a day to go down,couldnt have picked a worse day hey.

Ian.

Any idea whether trading will be extended into the evening? What does past experience tell us?

I am not in the conspiracy camp at all. Where I have a problem is that many millions of pounds are at stake in markets run by the LSE. They had problems back in 2000 when the exchange went down for 8 hours- that should have been the catalyst for a thorough review and the provision of adequate back up procedures as a result.

For such an important facility to be down again for such a long period- now 7 hours, is a disgrace to my mind. The lost opportunities for the businesses which trade in markets must be enormous and especially annoying when they have had such a hard time in the credit crunch era.

Dealerdear, experience tells us that you cant trust a word they say, they might say they are having an extended auction and that goes tits up too.as as happened in the past
really do feel for anyone with any stock positions open at moment, its like russian roulette now

dealer,

I cannot say - this is the longest I have ever seen the LSE down.

If that happens, we will let you know,

Ian

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 9

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that the Exchange will be re-enabling connectivity from approximately 15:15 BST.

Connectivity is being phased, and following the completion of these actions, all order book segments will remain in an auction phase. Once connectivity is re-established, it will be possible to enter or delete orders, though no electronic execution will occur at this stage.

Cheers Ruth, thanks Ian. Fancy a game of cards?

its intriguing. The Dow Daily cash is pretty much as was when the FTSE went down. Its like nothing has happened although I guess people are pulling their hair out in the city. Of all the interviews i have heard today not one person thinks this is sustainable. Expect the FTSE to be down massively tomorrow or maybe wednesday if the Asian markets stay in cloud cuckoo land.The bears are back in town grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

What's the bet it comes back at 4.29 today

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 10

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that the International Order Book and International Bulletin Board will NOT be available for automatic execution for the rest of today.

No closing prices will be issued in these trading segments (IOB, IOBU, ITBB and ITBU) today.

The remaining Trading Segments will remain in an auction phase. Once connectivity is re-established, it will be possible to enter or delete orders, though no electronic execution will occur at this stage.

8 September 2008

Service Announcement

Service Update 11

The purpose of this Service Announcement is to inform you that the auction will uncross at 16:00 BST (subject to a 30 second random period) at which time continuous trading will resume.

From this time market maker quotes in both quote and order driven markets will be firm.

There will be no further change to the remainder of the trading day. Therefore, the Closing Auction will commence as scheduled at 16.30 and uncross at 16:35 (subject to a 30 second random period).

I bet it goes down straight away - to much volume, may as well waited till morning

Fingers at the ready !!!!!

What what?????

back to normal now!

If you went long just before the outage you'd be in trouble now thr' no fault of your own

Thanks Iam for your hard work keeping us informed

I mean thanks Ian

thats the point i have been making for 7 hours. The prices on IG were complete bollocks. The percentage gains on the FTSE were way off any other market, they were not tracking the US futures. They have made a monkey out of people and should not be allowed to do it. Financially im net neutral but I feel sorry for any one who got sucked in

Even if I wanted to trade, I can't get any sort of quote on individual stocks.

oops a daisy - wish i could of gone long on that happening !!! :-} sell lse - they'll get battered in morning !

Streaming gone again imho

All,

the latest frin the LSE:

This is to inform you that due to on-going connectivity issues to resume a fair and stable market the Closing Auction will commence from 16:21 onwards. The Closing Auction will uncross as scheduled at 16:35 onwards (subject to a 30 second random period).

Best regards,

Geoff

Cheers.

I knew I should have stayed in bed!

Ah.

A spot of overtime for the contractors overnight!

Shorting LSE seems a gimme tomorrow, if the system works.

farcical - but makes it interesting for tomorrow !

what should have been one of the best trading opportunities in a long time was not to be , whatever the reason private investors should get a reasonable explanation from the LSE

My theory,

Is this the Russians, Al Kida, Alex Salmon, (Scottish National Party) aliens, Does this mean Armageddon?
Or is it Gordon Brown and Co having made the UK bankrupt ordered the closure of the LSE and therefor the suspension of trade whilst they secretly cash in all their shares and leave the country for a non domicile tax haven before anyone notices.
And whats the auction for, GB perhaps. The end is nigh, Doomed, we are all doomed.
Now I wonder if they have tried clearing cookies and then logging out and back in again. It usually works with MoneyAm.
Perhaps Ian and Co should give them a bell.

i guess the j boys are still on holiday without internet connection..hence the deliberate cock up

not if you traded the indices as they were working pretty much normally throughout, so i don't know why the griping from the odd poster above ....... i traded Dow CFDs with IG very satisfactorily and profitably today, the outage making no difference whatsoever

The same sort of thing used to happen during peak market conditions in 1929 you know..............The poor old carrier pidgeons used to suffer from wing muscle strain..............

would have been a lot worse if markets had been plummeting - even more unhappy bunnies then ! But its not all over yet , the yanks may go into meltdown before close

certainly Dow lookls to have boiled over and is now ONLY +170 at 11393

Accidental?

Thanks to Aleman and Madasafish

Markets manipulated to get the Dow up. Pumping the UK market for an hour and then suspending it is a good way to get the US off on the right foot. It buys time so they can work out how to sort Lehman which is much more complicated.

Alternative trading system Turquoise (http://www.tradeturquoise.com/tq_about.shtml) responsible. Set up so hedge funds could invest as if nothing was wrong and then bail out when it when it went tits up before anyone else could tell.
Turquoise and Chi-X, rival share-trading systems are backed by investment banks, were working all day without problems and were understood to be busier than normal. Hedge funds can sell out while the main market is shut with their buddies running your pensions buying the unwanted stock at no personal loss?

Short hedge funds killing the market by submitting millions of self cancelling orders to buy time followed by trading off-market to try to offset my exposed positions.

And thnaks to Energyi from the darkside -lengthy but interesting

== IMAGINARY CONVERSATION / Back in mid-June ===

China Representative (CR):
"Secretary Paulson, your dollar is very weak, and we are getting concerned. We are holding about $1.0 Trillion of Dollars, and falls are harming China's wealth. Most of this is invested in the debt of your mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Their share prices are weak now too, and we are getting worried. What can be done?"


Henry Paulson (HP):
"Yes, I am aware of your holdings of Dollars. We think the dollar is now too weak. Too many speculators are ganging up on it."

(CR): "We would like to see a stronger dollar. Isn't there something that can be done?"

(HP): "I believe so. We have a plan. But we will need your help."

(CR): "We are interested to hear your plan."

(HP): "As you know, we have hundreds of Hedge Funds in the US, and here are thousands of them around the world."

(CR): "There are many Hedge Funds in Hong Kong, and a few are setting up in China now."

(HP): "Many of these hedge funds have been shorting the dollar. They have made billions doing this, and many funds now have huge positions short the dollar, and long the Euro, or long so-called 'commodity currencies' like the Australian Dollar or the Canadian Dollar. Some are also borrowing dollars, to buy Gold or to buy Oil or or to buy Energy or Mining stocks. They win as the Dollar falls, and they win as commodities rise."

(CR): "We are aware of these trades. How can we stop this?"

(HP): "When I was at Goldman Sachs, we watched the behavior of many Hedge Funds. Most use massive leverage, and they take big positions in relation to their underlying capital."

(CR): "Yes. We know that."

(HP): "The thing is, they have risk limits, and if positions move against them, then they will close off their positions, to stop the losses. Very often, a move of 3%, 4%, or 5%, will be enough to get the Hedge Funds to cover the positions. We intend to intervene in the markets soon, to push the dollar higher, to hit those limits. When the funds start covering their positions, that will force the dollar higher still. We need to start things off by buying dollars, and when the Funds start buying too to cover, their buying will force the dollar up higher. Some of the hedge funds will see a change in the direction of momentum, and even swing around the other way, and become long, rather than short on dollars.

Also, I want to mention - whatever dollars we buy, we will be able to turn around and sell later. I expect to make money on this intervention. This is really only possible because too many hedge funds are on the same side of the trade now. They are way too imbalanced on the side against the dollar. We can turn that around, through this action."

(CR): "Mr. Secretary, that is a brilliant plan! Burn the speculators, and get them to become dollar buyers!"

(HP): "Yes, we believe this will work. But we will need your help. We want to get the timing right."

(CR): "I believe we can offer help. But you will need to start the process, we can join in, once the dollar has begun to turn up. What timing do you have in mind?"

(HP): "Soon, very soon. The oil price has gone up too far. Demand is already beginning to falter in the US, and I understand that China will soon reduce its oil subsidies, and that will help to cut demand in China."

(CR): "Yes, that is true. Malaysia, Indonesia, and India, have cut their oil subsidies. We have agreed to do the same in China."

(HP): "Saudi Arabia has agreed to add another 500,000 barrels per day to supply. That will kick in soon. We thing oil will fall to at least $110, perhaps $100 or lower."

(CR): "We also have similar projections..."

(HP): "The right time to be buying dollars will be when Oil is falling. Then Gold willl be weak, and all the commodity plays will be under pressure: the commodity currencies will be weak, oil, gold, ... and mining and energy shares too."

(CR): "Hmmm. Interesting. We want to buy some gold, and some energy stocks too. That's where we plan to invest some of our dollars. A few hundred billion, even."

(HP): "We have been expecting that, as we spoke before. Isn't it better to wait for them to get cheaper?"

(CR): "We will help... In fact, I think there may be a way we can get our Chinese banks to buy dollars too."

(HP): "My country appreciates China's help. We have a long relationship of co-operation. Do not worry about your holdings in debt of Fannie and Freddie. We will not let you lose on that. My plan will help the holders too. But we must wait for the right time."

(CR): "You can count on us. But you will need to lead this process. We are ready to follow."

(HP): "Right. Watch oil and gold. That will be a sign the game is underway. I will alert a few close friends in the Hedge Fund Business. They can help too."

(CR): "A great plan."
===

With Charts: http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index.php?showtopic=4178

Thanks to IanT for yesterdays updates.

These conspiracy theories are hilarious. If it wasn't so serious for the future of London's reputation generally or the LSE in particular I would think one up myself.

zscrooge,

Excellent, would be funnier if there was not an element of truth in it.
Are you ex MI5 by chance.

You might think that.... ;-))