That's what I call a dip - world's largest derivatives exchange shut down by embarrassing data center cooling issue

1. Pro

That's what I call a dip - world's largest derivatives exchange shut down by embarrassing data center cooling issue News By Efosa Udinmwen published 3 December 2025

Brief interruptions can significantly affect automated trading systems

Comments (0) ()

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Arm)

• Cooling failure at CME data center halted most electronic trading systems worldwide
• BrokerTec US Actives and BrokerTec EU reopened quickly; others stayed offline
• Temporary chillers were deployed to maintain minimal operations during the outage response

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the largest derivatives exchange in the world, was forced to pause trading across multiple markets due to a cooling failure at its CyrusOne data center facility.

The company says a chiller plant malfunction affected several cooling units, prompting an immediate halt to most of its electronic trading systems.

BrokerTec US Actives and BrokerTec EU, which handle liquid US Treasury securities and European government bonds, respectively, were reopened quickly, but all other systems remained offline.

You may like

• The AWS outage brought the internet to a crawl - here's what the experts are saying
• China wants to sink data centers underwater - could this be the next frontier in computing?
• The 9 weirdest things that happened during Amazon's huge AWS outage

Technical response and temporary measures

“Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers, our markets are currently halted. Support is working to resolve the issue in the near term and will advise clients of Pre-Open details as soon as they are available,” CME said on its X account.

CME stated its engineering teams, alongside specialized mechanical contractors, were on-site working to restore full cooling capacity.

Several chillers were restarted at limited output, and temporary cooling equipment was deployed to support permanent systems.

The outage occurred early in the morning after a holiday, which CME suggested might limit immediate disruption in US markets.

Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Asian and European markets, however, were expected to experience the most significant impacts as trading systems remained unavailable.

The CME operates in cities including London, Kuala Lumpur, and several locations across Europe.

It facilitates trading in a wide range of products, including energy, agriculture, foreign exchange, metals, cryptocurrencies, and major equity indices.

You may like

• The AWS outage brought the internet to a crawl - here's what the experts are saying
• China wants to sink data centers underwater - could this be the next frontier in computing?
• The 9 weirdest things that happened during Amazon's huge AWS outage

Even brief interruptions can ripple across markets, creating potential disruptions in pricing and liquidity.

Automated trading systems rely on continuous uptime, making cloud hosting environments particularly sensitive to such outages.

CME has experienced electronic trading disruptions in the past, though none of this magnitude.

The reliance on a single cooling system, even in a well-designed data center, can cause serious problems for exchanges handling important financial operations.

For firms using web hosting for trading platforms or supporting backend operations, similar technical failures could introduce operational delays or data exposure risks.

CME has deployed temporary solutions, and trading systems are expected to resume normal operation once permanent cooling is fully restored.

However, the event serves as a reminder of the operational vulnerabilities in high-stakes financial markets.

It also shows the importance of contingency planning and redundant infrastructure for organizations handling trillions of dollars in daily transactions.

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

Efosa UdinmwenFreelance Journalist

Efosa has been writing about technology for over 7 years, initially driven by curiosity but now fueled by a strong passion for the field. He holds both a Master's and a PhD in sciences, which provided him with a solid foundation in analytical thinking.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Logout Read more The AWS outage brought the internet to a crawl - here's what the experts are saying    China wants to sink data centers underwater - could this be the next frontier in computing?    The 9 weirdest things that happened during Amazon's huge AWS outage    Is IoT infrastructure ready for extreme weather?    Robots that can automatically refill liquid cooling systems unveiled at OCP Summit - and yes, that sort of has Matrix vibes to it    Amazon fixes huge AWS outage that broke much of the internet – here's what happened    Latest in Pro AWS Nova Forge could be your company's cue to start building custom AI models    North Korean 'fake worker' scheme caught live on camera    Squarespace’s Cyber Week continues - grab 20% off before it’s gone    The search for transparency and reliability in the AI era    Iranian hacker group deploys malicious Snake game to target Egyptian and Israeli critical infrastructure    Over two-thirds of retailers have already partially deployed AI agents for efficiency    Latest in News ExpressVPN's latest update boosts connection speeds and revamps its Mac app    Netflix celebrates Kpop Demon Hunters' Spotify Wrapped 2025 success with heartfelt HUNTR/X 'thank you' message – but some fans think it was made by AI    Grab a free Fortnite skin with your Backbone Pro    Character.ai launches Stories as it scales back chat for under-18s    New Windows 11 'PC you can talk to' ad pushing Copilot is proving divisive    How to watch 2025 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo online: live stream event from anywhere    LATEST ARTICLES

1. 1That's what I call a dip - world's largest derivatives exchange shut down by embarrassing data center cooling issue
2. 2Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable business laptop review
3. 3Watch out - these scam Mac Store apps are impersonating Google Gemini & OpenAI ChatGPT
4. 4North Korean 'fake worker' scheme caught live on camera
5. 5AWS Nova Forge could be your company's cue to start building custom AI models