HTTP status code
HTTP status code: 408 Request Timeout
As text you can copy
408 Request Timeout- Kind
- Status code
What does 408 Request Timeout mean in HTTP?
The server did not receive a complete request within the time it was prepared to wait. The standard allows the client to repeat the request, on a new connection if the old one cannot be used.
Risk warning: CFDs and spread bets are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You can lose money on these products, and each provider publishes its own loss figure under FCA rules. You should consider whether you understand how they work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Automated and API trading can amplify losses through bugs, connectivity failures and runaway orders.
What it means in trading API work
The request did not finish arriving, so the server should not have acted on it. Take care all the same with a request that places or changes an order: confirm the state of the account before sending it a second time.
This part is this site's own explanation, written for people learning to call a trading API. It is not part of the source cited above and it describes no particular broker.
What should I do about 408 Request Timeout?
Check the connection, then repeat a read request. For an order request, read open orders and positions before sending it again, so that a retry cannot place the order twice.
This page is an independent explanation in plain words. The definition itself is in the source it was read from, which is the authority if the two ever differ.