CME Group operations halted due to a data center failure

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

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 disruption is causing frustration among traders at the prospect of a lost trading day.

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

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

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

CME Group Suspension Causes Confusion Among Traders

According to consulted experts, this is an uncomfortable situation for traders with open positions. However, they point out that the confusion has surely not stopped others from moving their capital to alternative platforms. The fact is that a huge amount of liquidity is evaporating as a result of the failure.

“We’ve lost one of the market’s largest sources of liquidity. This increases the risk of exacerbated moves in the event of an important occurrence,” 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’ desperation for trading activity. On the optimistic 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 preceding monetary policy meetings.

The temporary halt of CME Group operations is particularly impactful on the world of cryptocurrencies. 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 far lower liquidity compared to other markets. This makes the CME halt a much more delicate matter for virtual currencies.