CME Group operations halted due to a data center failure

Source: CritpoTendencia Original Title: Operations at CME Group Halted Due to Data Center Outage Original Link: Options and futures trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or CME Group, were suspended this Friday. The cause was a failure at a data center that powers the group’s electronic trading platform, Globex. This affects areas such as Forex, stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies, and commodities markets.

According to reports from specialized media, this interruption is similar to one in 2019, which lasted for hours following a technical failure. Now, a new outage is causing frustration among traders facing the prospect of a lost trading day.

This exchange is one of the world’s most important in the derivatives space. In fact, millions of contracts tracking the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq 100 are traded there every week. These are traded around the clock on the exchange.

According to a CME Group spokesperson, the suspension of operations is related to cooling issues at CyrusOne data centers, a key provider for the exchange. In the statement, the representative did not provide an estimated timeline for the resumption of trading.

Among the affected areas is also the trading of U.S. Treasury futures. It’s worth mentioning that bonds from other markets, such as Europe, were not affected since they are traded on different platforms.

The CME Group Suspension Causes Confusion Among Traders

According to experts consulted, this is an uncomfortable situation for traders with open positions. However, they point out that the confusion has likely not stopped others, who are moving their capital to alternative platforms. The reality is that a huge pool of liquidity is evaporating as a result of the outage.

“We’ve lost one of the market’s major sources of liquidity. This increases the risk of sharp moves if a significant event occurs,” warns Nick Twidale of AT Global Markets. One of the factors adding pressure is that most U.S. markets were closed on Thursday due to Thanksgiving.

This further increases traders’ frustration amid pent-up demand for trading activity. On the bright side, no major economic announcements are expected in the U.S. on Friday. Likewise, there will be no statements from Federal Reserve members due to the usual information blackout ahead of monetary policy meetings.

The temporary halt of CME Group’s operations has a particularly strong impact on the cryptocurrency world. It’s worth noting that numerous contracts based on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and other major tokens are opened daily on that platform.

As is well known, the crypto world has significantly lower liquidity compared to other markets. This makes the CME shutdown an even more delicate matter for virtual currencies.