# HTTP status code: 408 Request Timeout

Independent and unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any broker or platform named here. Educational only: nothing here is advice, and nothing here recommends a broker or a trade.

This is the markdown version of https://openbrokerapi.com/errors/http/408, written from the same records as that page.

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.

As text you can copy:

```
408 Request Timeout
```

- Kind: Status code
- Read from: [RFC 9110, HTTP Semantics, section 15.5.9](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#section-15.5.9)
- Status: verified. Source: [rfc-editor.org](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#section-15.5.9), checked 2026-10-09.

## 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.

## 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](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110.html#section-15.5.9), which is the authority if the two ever differ.

## Where to go next

- [Everything decoded for HTTP](https://openbrokerapi.com/errors/http)
- [Getting started with API trading](https://openbrokerapi.com/guides/getting-started-with-api-trading): What an API is, what you need and how to make a first call safely.
- [Brokers](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers): The record for each broker: access, limits, endpoints and error codes.
- [Platform APIs](https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms): APIs that belong to trading software offered by many brokers.
- [Error codes](https://openbrokerapi.com/errors): What each error means, and the fix where the source gives one.

## Licence and how to cite

The records behind this page are all rights reserved. This file is the page itself, at its own address, in another format. It is not part of the CC BY 4.0 downloads listed at https://openbrokerapi.com/data. Quote from it with a link to the page.

Cite as: HTTP status code: 408 Request Timeout. Broker API Hub, https://openbrokerapi.com/errors/http/408, newest check 2026-10-09.

Where you rely on a single figure, cite the source and the checked date printed beside it as well. Where this page and a broker's own documentation differ, the documentation wins.