Online brokerages creak under weight of stock market sell-off

Individual investors who rushed to respond to Monday's market mayhem encountered digital roadblocks that temporarily prevented them from trading at several online brokerages, raising questions about the systems' ability to handle periods of extreme.

After stocks saw their worst week in four years, markets started Monday deep in the red, with the Dow plummeting 1,089 points before recovering some of its losses. All of the major US indexes fell over 3% by the end of theĀ 

After stocks saw their worst week in four years, markets started Monday deep in the red, with the Dow plummeting 1,089 points before recovering some of its losses. All of the major US indexes fell over 3% by the end of theĀ 

Individual investors who rushed to respond to Monday's market mayhem encountered digital roadblocks that temporarily prevented them from trading at several online brokerages, raising questions about the systems' ability to handle periods of extreme.

If you didn't notice that the stock markets in the US dropped nearly 4% today (after falling last Thursday and Friday) then you were probably completely off-the-grid and on vacation. Freefall. It was a nerve racking morning.