Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath on Friday broke down how Cloudflare outages can temporarily block access to Kite and what traders should do when it happens. With Cloudflare handling nearly a quarter of global internet traffic, its slowdown earlier in the day briefly affected several fintech platforms in India, including Zerodha’s trading app.
As per a report by Mint, Kamath said that while Zerodha’s backend systems and order management engines continued to function normally, a Cloudflare disruption at the gateway layer can momentarily prevent users from logging into Kite. To avoid leaving traders stuck during volatile market hours, Zerodha has built an emergency WhatsApp-based exit system that works outside its main tech stack.
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Why Cloudflare disruptions hit Kite?
Kite’s web and mobile platforms rely on Cloudflare’s security and DDoS protection layers. All user requests to place or modify orders route through Cloudflare before reaching Zerodha’s infrastructure on AWS.
Once orders enter the broker’s internal OMS housed in physical data centres with direct exchange links, Cloudflare is no longer involved.
But when Cloudflare slows down globally as it did on Friday, access to the platform can be partially blocked even though Zerodha’s internal systems are stable.
What is Zerodha’s emergency exit route?
The report said, that to give traders a safety net during such situations, Zerodha has activated a WhatsApp-only backup channel. The feature is meant strictly for “disaster scenarios” where both Kite web and mobile versions are simultaneously inaccessible during the market hours.
Kamath said the workflow has deliberately been kept separate from Zerodha’s core infrastructure, so it remains reachable even if Cloudflare services face issues.
How can traders use the backup system?
Save the official number: +91 99644 52020
Send “hi” on WhatsApp to trigger the exit process.
Wait for the prompt: the automated system may take a few seconds to respond.
Follow the steps to exit open positions.
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Zerodha said the goal is to ensure traders have a fallback option during rare but high-impact internet disruptions, especially when external bottlenecks make apps unreachable. Kamath urged users to store the number in advance so they don’t waste crucial minutes during a market emergency.
