In a stark reminder of the fragility of modern financial infrastructure, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group experienced a major outage on November 28, 2025, halting trading across its Globex platform for over 11 hours. This disruption, stemming from a data center failure, sent shockwaves through global markets, affecting everything from equities and commodities to foreign exchange and Treasuries. As the world’s largest derivatives exchange, CME’s downtime underscored the interconnectedness of international finance and the risks posed by reliance on centralized technology hubs.
The Cause of the Data Center Failure
The outage was triggered by a cooling system malfunction at a CyrusOne data center in Aurora, Illinois, which hosts critical infrastructure for CME’s operations.
Temperatures inside the facility reportedly soared above 100°F (38°C), with some accounts citing peaks as high as 120°F (49°C), leading to overheating of servers and equipment.
CyrusOne, the data center operator, confirmed the issue affected services for multiple clients, but the failure primarily impacted CME’s Globex electronic trading platform.
This type of cooling failure is not unprecedented in data centers, where high-density computing generates immense heat that must be managed continuously. However, the incident highlighted vulnerabilities in redundancy measures; CME’s backup systems were not activated promptly, exacerbating the downtime.
Industry experts noted that while data centers are designed with multiple cooling units, a simultaneous chiller plant failure can cascade rapidly if not isolated.
CyrusOne stated that systems were stabilized post-incident, with enhanced cooling redundancy implemented to prevent future occurrences.
Impact on Global Markets
The halt rippled across international trading floors, leaving participants “blind” to real-time prices and unable to execute or close positions during peak hours in Asia and Europe.
Affected markets included S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures, U.S. Treasury bonds, crude oil (WTI), gold, silver, agricultural commodities, foreign exchange via the EBS platform, and even cryptocurrency-linked products.
Trading in Nikkei stock futures, palm oil in Malaysia, and various European and UK markets was also disrupted, demonstrating the global reach of CME’s infrastructure.
Brokers responded variably: some suspended trading entirely, while others resorted to synthetic pricing, which eroded trust and widened spreads.
Liquidity evaporated in many segments, leading to heightened uncertainty.
Upon resumption around 7:30 a.m. CT (1330 GMT), markets experienced volatility spikes, with gaps in pricing and distorted correlations as pent-up orders flooded in.
The timing coincided with a U.S. Thanksgiving holiday-shortened session, which mitigated some volume impacts, but the event still exposed systemic risks in an era of 24/7 digital trading.
Reuters Estimated Financial Costs of the Outage
Quantifying the exact economic toll is challenging, as direct losses from halted trades are compounded by opportunity costs and secondary market effects. However, analysts estimate the outage could have cost the global economy billions in disrupted activity. CME’s Globex platform typically handles trillions in notional value daily, and the freeze prevented executions during a period when approximately $600 billion in S&P 500 options were set to expire.
Traders unable to hedge or unwind positions faced potential unrealized losses from market movements, while brokers incurred operational costs and reputational damage.
Broader ripple effects included thinner liquidity in alternative venues and delayed price discovery, which may have amplified volatility in equities, bonds, and commodities post-reopening.
Some reports suggest indirect costs—such as lost commissions, algorithmic trading disruptions, and investor confidence erosion—could push the total impact into the tens of billions, drawing parallels to past exchange glitches that erased millions in minutes.
The incident also highlighted the need for better contingency planning, as one analyst noted it exposed “trillions in global exposure” to single-point failures.
The Growth of Data Centers and Its Impact on Electricity Prices
This outage occurs amid explosive growth in data centers, driven largely by AI, cloud computing, and digital finance demands. Global data center capacity is projected to double by 2030, with AI alone accounting for over 20% of electricity demand growth in advanced economies.
In the U.S., data centers and cryptocurrency mining could boost average electricity generation costs by 8% through 2030, while also increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
This surge is already straining power grids and inflating prices. Wholesale electricity costs have risen as much as 267% in five years near data center clusters, with these hikes passed on to consumers.
Residential bills could climb 25% in affected regional markets, as demand outpaces supply and utilities invest in infrastructure upgrades.
Experts warn that without efficiency improvements or renewable integrations, data center expansion will continue to drive up energy costs, potentially deferring billions to households while benefiting tech giants.
As data centers become indispensable to sectors like finance and energy trading, incidents like the CME outage serve as a cautionary tale. Balancing growth with resilience and sustainability will be key to avoiding future disruptions—and the escalating energy bills that accompany them.
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