CME Blackout: Traders Cry “Manipulation” After 10-Hour Halt Freezes Markets

Core Insights - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) experienced a significant trading disruption due to a cooling system failure at a data center, leading to a 10-hour halt in trading across multiple regions, which raised concerns of market manipulation among traders [1][2][3] Group 1: Incident Details - The outage was caused by a malfunction at the CyrusOne-operated facility in Aurora, which has been critical for CME's Globex electronic markets for nearly 20 years [2][7] - Full trading functionality was restored at 1:30 p.m. UTC on Friday, but the disruption had already affected trading in Asia and Europe, where liquidity was already low post-Thanksgiving [2][3] Group 2: Trader Reactions - Traders across various asset classes reported being unable to close or adjust positions during the outage, describing the situation as a "nightmare" [3][4] - Some traders expressed skepticism about the timing of the outage, suggesting it was "too convenient" as it occurred during a low-volume trading session, with silver futures nearing a record high just before the halt [4][5] Group 3: Market Impact - The outage affected multiple markets, including crude oil, palm oil, and cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin and Ethereum futures going offline entirely [5][6] - The already muted trading activity due to the Thanksgiving holiday was further exacerbated by the outage, leading to calls from traders for CME to cancel losses incurred during the freeze [6]