CME Halts Global Futures Trading, Citing Data Center Issue
The unexpected outage froze key benchmarks including S&P 500 futures and major currency markets, disrupting overnight price discovery for investors.
CME Group, one of the world's largest derivatives exchange operators, abruptly halted trading for all futures and options on its critical Globex platform late Thursday, a move that froze prices on key global benchmarks and left investors in the dark.
The company attributed the widespread outage to a technical problem at one of its data centers. In a system status update, CME stated it was addressing a "cooling issue" at a facility operated by third-party vendor CyrusOne. The trading halt began at 11:32 p.m. U.S. Central Time on Thursday, impacting overnight sessions across Asia and Europe.
The suspension immediately affected a vast array of markets that rely on the electronic Globex platform for price discovery and risk management outside of regular U.S. trading hours. Trading in crucial equity index futures, including contracts tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, was frozen, preventing investors from hedging positions or reacting to overnight developments.
The disruption rippled through foreign exchange markets as well. The EBS platform, a primary venue for trading major currency pairs like the euro-dollar, also went dark. The halt created a vacuum in global markets, occurring during what is typically a quieter post-Thanksgiving holiday period.
The interconnected nature of modern financial markets was on full display, as the CME's technical problem forced other exchanges to pause their operations. Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, the Malaysian derivatives market, announced a halt to its trading, citing the Globex system outage as the cause.
Market participants were left waiting for updates as the morning session in Europe approached. In a series of alerts posted on its website, CME Group's Global Command Center confirmed the issue and said support teams were "working to resolve the issue in the near term." The exchange added it would provide "Pre-Open details as soon as they are available," according to its official status page.
Outages on major exchanges like CME are rare but can have significant consequences, undermining confidence in market infrastructure and leaving institutional investors unable to manage billions of dollars in risk. The event highlights the vulnerability of global markets to single points of failure within their complex technical architecture. As of early Friday, traders remained on standby, awaiting the restoration of one of the financial world's most vital trading platforms.