(Bloomberg) — The Chicago Mercantile Exchange restored trading operations in time to wrap up a holiday-shortened week in the US, recovering from an hours-long technical outage that had disrupted multiple financial markets across Asia and Europe.
The exchange’s Globex Futures & Options markets, which handles futures, options, and commodities trading and accounts for 90% of CME Group’s volume, opened at 8:30 a.m. New York time. Volume remained light across many markets, with at least four traders noting delays in trading for Treasury futures and options tied to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate.
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A halt lasting around ten hours triggered widespread frustration among market participants as they found themselves unable to trade contracts tracking the S&P 500 Index and multiple other assets ahead of month-end on the one of the world’s largest derivatives exchanges. The outage stemmed from cooling problems at a crucial data center in the Chicago area.
“I woke up thinking my Wi-Fi was out,” said Ritik Katte, chief investment officer at MCD Capital, a London-based investment firm.
CME Direct, a platform the company offers for users to trade its markets, also eventually resumed operating after delays.
The disruption lasted some three times longer than a similar disruption caused by a technical error in 2019 and underscores the reach of CME Group and its Globex electronic trading platform. Bourses operated by CME include the Chicago Board of Trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Commodity Exchange.
The cause of the outage was a cooling-system malfunction at a data center in Aurora, Illinios, according to facility operator CyrusOne, which is owned by KKR & Co. and BlackRock Inc.’s Global Infrastructure Partners.
Aurora complex has served as the primary hub of digital operations for CME Group for nearly two decades. The 450,000-square-foot facility is famous among high-frequency traders and Wall Street firms, who’ve jostled for position around the site to gain an advantage over competitors. Traders want to be close to the data center to minimize the distance data must travel in order to save microseconds.
The disruption unfolded in the hours following the US Thanksgiving holiday Thursday, when stock and bond markets there were closed. While activity was expected to be subdued on Friday, a shortened trading day, the glitch added extra complications, particularly for investors looking to make month-end adjustments by rolling positions from one contract to another.
finance.yahoo.com