Those of you who are following the market today will know that it has been a bit suppressed for the last week or so (which to be honest I thought was beginning to show signs of another big correction - such as that experienced last September - which I have documented quite extensively).
However today it is surging at greater than 14%, I saw earlier in the week a few posts that were certainly at the very least predicting a surge in BitCoin prices and they seem to have called it right. So well done them.
However, as usual when the market begins to heat up the whole COINBASE exchange crashes. Information becomes limited and trading impossible. This costs clients profits (= money)
It this were the first time it would be understandable because very little online is 100% accessible and everything from Facebook to our bank accounts suffers outages. But this is not the first time nor will it be the last. Every time it heats up their front end crashes (can't comment on their back-end).
Frankly this is unacceptable. Once happens, twice is a key indicator of a problem and three times is unforgivable.
The cynic would say that it is deliberately built into their system to help them maximise profits. However, I am not so sure how this works. Coinbase are known for their high fees and the system is largely automated so wouldn't it make sense for them to carry as much trading volume as possible to max out their profits?
Another possible reason is that they don't have the necessary infrastructure to support a large volume of trades. Well if this is the case they should invest in greater infrastructure whatever that means. - more servers, greater redundancy or whatever. They have their finger on the pulse of what they do and should respond accordingly.
The whole point is that it can't carry on. It is unprofessional, shows a lack of due diligence in processing, there is a lack of continuous improvement and furthermore this screeches of a lack of customer care. Ultimately you are there to serve clients and when you cost clients you fail - simple as!
I'd be interested to know other people's perspectives.
Time to step up Coinbase.
Take care and stay safe and wherever you are have a fantastic weekend.
