Over the past weekend, prop firm E8 Markets fell victim to a DDoS attack, leaving traders unable to access their accounts for 48 hours. Although the website and platform functionality had been restored at the time of reporting, some users still reported access issues even after the markets reopened Today (Monday).

E8 Markets Targeted in DDoS Attack

On Saturday, prop firm E8 Markets announced that it had been "experiencing a DDoS attack" since Friday. The team was actively working on resolving the issue and securing both the website and platform against "further threats."

Despite these efforts, the E8 Markets website remained inaccessible on Saturday, with the firm stating that clients would be notified once everything was back to normal.

In a separate update, the company assured users that, as a "response to the recent DDoS attack," E8 Markets was "conducting extra security audits to ensure that no irregularities have occurred."

"While our initial assessments show no signs of any issues beyond the attack itself, we are performing more extensive audits to guarantee 100% system integrity and security before bringing the dashboard back online," the company added.

However, as of February 22, no further updates had been posted on E8 Markets’ X (formerly Twitter) account regarding the situation. Clients reported that access to the website and platform was still unavailable not only on Sunday but also at the start of Monday’s session, when Forex and other financial markets were already active.

"This is so frustrating. The frickin' markets are open… anybody with open trades has no choice but to watch their PnLs with no hands on the wheel," commented a user named Josh Robinson at 12:23 AM CET.

What Are DDoS Attacks?

A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack occurs when an attacker floods a target system—usually a website or online service—with an overwhelming number of requests or data packets. These requests come from numerous devices that have been hijacked, often without their owners’ knowledge.

As these compromised devices collectively bombard the target, the system’s resources are used up quickly, making it difficult or impossible for legitimate users to access the service.

Attackers launch DDoS campaigns for various reasons, such as disrupting the operations of a rival business, extorting money from an organization by threatening prolonged downtime, or simply causing chaos to gain attention. Because multiple machines are involved in a coordinated assault, it can be challenging to block all malicious traffic or trace it back to a single origin.

Organizations defend themselves by using tools that identify and filter out suspicious traffic, and by spreading their systems across several servers so that no single resource becomes overwhelmed.

Another DDoS Attack in the Prop Trading Industry

The DDoS attack on E8 Markets is not the first incident in the industry in recent months. Finance Magnates recently reported that another popular prop trading firm, Funding Pips, also fell victim to a similar attack.

A few months prior, TradeLocker, a platform widely used by prop traders, particularly in the futures market, was also targeted. Although the platform was only down for an hour, the disruption caused significant confusion among clients of multiple prop firms.

Source: Finance Magnates