What is a contingency plan if my primary exchange goes offline during market moves?

Last year my main crypto exchange slammed offline during a hot morning. I had a plan built from my own missteps: I kept a smaller balance on a backup exchange, and I set up a separate broker feed to place similar orders. Before any move, I ensured I had a liquid buffer (roughly 2, 5% of my total notional) in stable coins across wallets and a reserve account on a different venue. The moment A froze, I switched to B in the same asset, using the backup API and web UI. I also had GTC orders on B to catch the move so I didn't chase on the outage. I called the market-making desk on B to sanity-check liquidity and throttle risk. I set automatic alerts for price levels and risk limits so I wouldn't over-trade if the feed came back slow. Post-event I trimmed exposure and reviewed: how fast the backup could take over, whether spreads were acceptable, and what I learned about API failover. The key: practice your switch, keep a backup, and don't rely on one lane for the whole move.

During a volatile session last year, my primary exchange went dark as liquidity evaporated. I had a plan ready. I keep a fully funded backup account on a major exchange with similar contracts, and I keep margins pre-approved so I can switch in minutes. I also run a redundant internet setup, home broadband plus a 4G hotspot, and a VPN with low latency, plus latency alerts. On the backup site I place standby limit orders near my targets and an OCO to cancel them if I switch to a different venue. I hold a small futures hedge to cap gap risk. I test the process quarterly and log any lessons.

When my main exchange went offline during a surge, I switched to a trusted backup, used hard stops and alerts, and kept a manual trading notebook.