MCX trading halt sparks concern among brokers over system reliability

Trading on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) came to a standstill for several hours on October 28 due to what the exchange described as a technical glitch. The halt left traders unable to buy, sell, or hedge positions — and brokers say this is not the first time such a disruption has occurred.

Kunal Shah, Head of Commodities at Nirmal Bang, said they were told by the exchange that it was a technical glitch, but there was no further update on when trading would resume. “We are awaiting a reply from the exchange,” he said, adding that such incidents “should not be happening.”

Several brokerage houses said that technical problems have persisted since TCS became MCX’s technology partner. Shah said, “There are issues sometimes regarding the margin files getting delayed,” and added that “sooner these issues get resolved, the better for the ecosystem.”

Similar glitches have occurred in July 2025, October 2023, and February 2023 — all after the system transition.

Jay Prakash Gupta, founder of Dhan, called the situation very unfortunate. He said, “Our users want to log in at 9 am and start trading, and they’re not able to do that.” Gupta added that his team had been “in touch with the exchange since morning,” but there was no resolution in sight.

Gupta explained that traders with open positions faced a dilemma. “If someone is long and prices open gap-down, there’s hardly any room to manage positions,” he said.

Also Read | MCX trading delay explained: What we know about the technical issue

With gold prices already falling sharply during the outage, brokers say the situation could have led to heavy losses for some clients. “What about the stop losses? What about risk management?” Shah asked, urging MCX and its technology partner to ensure “this kind of stuff doesn’t happen again.”

Both Shah and Gupta also emphasised the need for other exchanges to build liquidity. “If other exchanges were liquid and vibrant, they could have absorbed some of today’s volume,” Shah said.

As of the latest update, MCX said it was working to restore normal trading and was in touch with both brokers and the regulator to resolve the issue.

For the entire discussion, watch the accompanying video

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