TLDR
- CME Group paused all trading due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data center facilities.
- Markets for futures, options, and FX were halted, including CME Globex and EBS.
- The outage began during thin post-holiday trading in the Asia session.
- CME teams are working to restore systems and advise clients on reopening plans.
The CME Group has temporarily suspended trading across major asset classes following a systems disruption at its data center partner, CyrusOne. This halt, which began during the late U.S. trading hours on November 27, affected several core market platforms including CME Globex, EBS, and BMD.
The issue occurred due to a cooling malfunction at the CyrusOne facility, which supports the infrastructure used by CME Group. The failure led to widespread outages that stopped activity in futures, options, and foreign exchange markets. The shutdown came shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday and during low-liquidity conditions in the Asian session.
Cooling Failure Forces Exchange Halt
CME Group issued a series of status updates confirming that its futures and options markets on Globex, as well as EBS and BMD markets, were not operational. The first notice appeared around 20:40 CT on November 27, and the problem continued into the next day.
“Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers, our markets are currently halted,” said the exchange in multiple statements. “Support is working to resolve the issue in the near term and will advise clients of Pre-Open details as soon as they are available.”
The cooling failure at the data center disrupted critical systems, leaving traders without updated market data across equities, currencies, and commodities. Platforms such as EBS, widely used for trading EUR/USD and USD/JPY pairs, also stopped updating quotes.
Market Benchmarks Unavailable During Post-Holiday Volatility
The timing of the outage added further stress to already thin post-holiday liquidity conditions. According to data from LSEG, pricing updates across equities and currency pairs had not refreshed since 0344 GMT. Traders in the Asia-Pacific region reported an inability to execute or hedge positions during a period of elevated volatility.
Reuters reported that market participants received the first halt notification just before 0300 GMT. This resulted in a complete trading freeze on products like S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures.
“This hasn’t helped at all, especially on a day when there was real interest to transact,” said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG Markets.
Infrastructure Under Pressure Despite Recent Technology Upgrades
The outage occurred months after CME Group expanded its technology partnerships to improve operational resilience. In March, CME announced a collaboration with Google Cloud, exploring ways to enhance efficiency through tokenization and distributed ledger technologies.
The exchange has also been diversifying its offerings. Recently, it introduced new spot-quoted crypto futures contracts for XRP and Solana. These are scheduled to launch on December 15, pending regulatory approval.
Despite the current outage, CME has seen record trading volumes in crypto and U.S. Treasury products. Its stock has climbed over 20% this year, offering long-term investors substantial returns of nearly 90% over five years.
CME Working Toward System Restoration
CME Group has reiterated that its support teams are actively working to bring systems back online. The exchange has been issuing rolling updates, stating it will provide pre-open guidance once systems are stable.
As of the latest update, there is no official timeline for full service restoration, but CME emphasized that resolving the issue remains a priority. Clients are being advised to monitor official channels for pre-open announcements.
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