Major futures and options markets resumed trading on Friday after a cooling system failure at a Chicago-area data center.
Stock futures and options reopened fully at 8:30 a.m. ET, with bonds, metals and foreign exchange platforms slowly coming back online. “All CME Group markets are open and trading, although a number of traders have reported continued delays in Treasury contracts following the resumption,” the exchange said in a statement.
The shutdown began at the Sirson Chi-1 facility, where a chiller plant failure on November 27 affected multiple cooling units. Engineering teams and specialized mechanical contractors are working “around the clock” to restore full cooling capacity, Sirson said, adding that temporary cooling equipment has been deployed to supplement damaged systems. The operator apologized for the disruption and said it was in direct contact with all affected customers.
The halt lasted about ten hours, affecting CME’s Globex futures and options system – which accounts for around 90% of the group’s total volume – as well as EBS foreign exchange markets and BMD derivatives. The EBS reopened at 7 a.m. ET, shortly after brokertech EU markets resumed trading.
Market participants in several areas reported sudden loss of access. In London, managers moved to cash treasuries in thinner, broader markets. Kuala Lumpur-based traders said the shutdown has more directly affected traders in the Asian and European sessions, timed to coincide with the slow US Thanksgiving holiday.
Several investors noted difficulty in executing month-end rolls or adjusting positions. One portfolio manager described the combination of “month-end, Thanksgiving, CME down” as “not an ideal combination,” while another said liquidity and price transparency had essentially evaporated on the underlying futures contracts.
The incident highlighted the extent to which global derivatives markets depend on a small number of data center hubs. CME’s Aurora, Illinois complex—now operated by Cirruson—served as the exchange’s main digital hub for nearly two decades and remains a focal point for high-frequency traders who pool goods to minimize latency. In 2019, a similar disruption continued for a third.
CME said its disaster recovery plan included an option to move to a data center in the New York area, but the exchange chose to resume operations from Aurora based on an initial assessment that the cooling problem would be resolved soon.
Some traders said volumes had temporarily shifted to other venues as liquidity dried up. Others observed that price action has already become unusually tight since Wednesday’s close and will likely remain so until full stability returns. Still, given the busy conditions of the holidays, the strategies suggested that the broader impact of the time could be minimized. “Everyone said it could have been worse,” said one.
By midday on Friday, most operations had been restored, although CME Direct – which is used for several of the company’s markets – remained offline during the early stages of restoration.
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