Abstract. The necessary physical conditions for development of the ion-acoustic instability in the chromospheric part of a flaring loop current circuit are investigated. Two possible scenarios have been studied. First, we consider that pre-flare loop plasma with the large-scale sub-Dreicer electric field has a classical Coulomb conductivity and, second, when anomalous resistance appears due to saturation of Bernstein turbulence. The Fontenla-Avrett-Loeser (FAL) model of the solar atmosphere was used to describe the pre-flare plasma. We have shown that investigated instability can grow and develop either in the presence of the Coulomb conductivity or saturated Bernstein turbulence. We demonstrate that in the case of small-scale instability, the threshold value for the degree of nonisothermality is high and, therefore, cannot be reached by inclusion of the ordinary Joule heating. The ion-acoustic instability can develop at the pre-flare loop footpoints provided the electrons are more than 10 times hotter than the ions there.