A technical outage that idled the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the world’s largest derivatives market, for nearly 10 hours sparked fears of market manipulation among global traders.
Traders accused the exchange of foul play, pointing to the outage’s timing during a low-volume U.S. holiday and its occurrence just minutes before silver futures reached a key milestone. One trader questioned how “a simple problem could bring down the entire CME futures platform.”
Others suggested it was “very convenient that this happens in Asia on a holiday,” implying an attempt to move prices in a specific direction.
🚨 Problemas técnicos en CME causan caos en el mercado 🚨
La operativa de derivados se detuvo por casi 10 horas debido a una falla en el enfriamiento del centro de datos.
Traders quedaron atrapados en posiciones y temen manipulación del mercado.
Al reanudarse, los futuros de… pic.twitter.com/eUSadAw5cd
— Diario฿itcoin (@DiarioBitcoin) November 24, 2023
CME confirmed the disruption stemmed from a cooling issue at its CyrusOne data center in Illinois, U.S. Operations were suspended for approximately 10 hours.
The service fully resumed on Friday at 1:30 pm UTC. This restored access to all CME-operated markets for traders and users.
Hundreds of traders found themselves unable to open new positions or close existing ones, causing significant frustration. The derivatives ecosystem is fundamental for price formation in various financial markets, intensifying the tensions.
CME has not published further updates beyond confirming the problem was resolved and operations were back to normal. The exchange does not typically release regular trading data during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
Despite the disruption, Bitcoin futures saw a notable rebound. Data indicated Bitcoin futures, which closed Wednesday at $90,355 USD, opened Friday at $90,940 USD.
Contracts continued their upward trajectory, surpassing $93,000 USD later on Friday. This followed Bitcoin’s recovery from a local low of $80,522 USD.
Analysts now eye $95,000 USD as a resistance zone for Bitcoin. Recapturing this level could pave the way for a return to $100,000 USD.
Investor and analyst Arthur Hayes suggested the recent dip to just over $80,000 USD marked the cycle’s lowest point. He predicted improved liquidity could drive Bitcoin’s price higher by 2026, though a short-term pullback remains possible.
The incident underscored the global markets’ dependence on robust technological infrastructure.