CME Group halts futures trading as cooling system breaks down

  • The platform suspends trading across futures and FTX instruments.
  • That followed a cooling issue at a CyrusOne data center.
  • The disruption comes days after CME celebrated a record day for its crypto complex.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange executed an unexpected trading pause on Friday after a CyrusOne data center overheated, sending major services and platforms offline. Today’s official X post confirmed:

Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers, our markets are currently halted.

A routine market session turned into chaos as futures linked to currencies, stock indices, Treasuries, and commodities stopped updating, suspending live price feeds, leaving traders without reliable prices as brokers lacked the data to quote markets.

Notably, the initial alert surfaced on CME’s platform at 02:40 GMT, notifying users of the outages in multiple platforms.

Meanwhile, leading contracts, including Nikkei, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100, failed to update for several hours as of early Asian sessions.

Also, the currency side experienced issues as CME’s EBS platform stalled, with key pairs such as USD/JPY and EUR/USD offline.

The incident has grabbed the crypto community’s attention as it comes days after the Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced that its Cryptocurrency options and futures suite hit new ATHs in daily volume.

Brokers stranded as price feeds stop

The event left brokers navigating the markets without vital features as live pricing went offline.

Some suspended trading activities, while others switched to internal models or backup sources.

CME’s head of Middle East and Asia, Christopher Forbes, said that he has never seen such an incident in two decades, calling it “a pain in the arse.”

For now, the platform is working to maintain stable pricing using alternative feeds, which can lead to mispricing amid volatile conditions. Forbes stated:

We are now taking a lot of unnecessary risks here to continue pricing. My guess is the market is not going to like this. I think it will be a bit volatile on the open.

Meanwhile, the outage arrived as the market experienced slow activity due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

The timing adds to uncertainty

CME’s outage comes at an awkward time for the trading platform.

Four days ago, on November 24, the team celebrated a crucial breakthrough as its crypto derivatives complex recorded an all-time high in 24-hour volume, signaling renewed momentum for digital currencies.

Commenting on the milestone, CME Group’s Global Head of Crypto Products, Giovanni Vicioso, said:

Amid ongoing market uncertainty, demand for deeply liquid, regulated crypto risk management tools is accelerating. Clients across the globe continue to turn to our benchmark Cryptocurrency futures and options to hedge their risk and pursue opportunities in this complex environment, with both large institutions and retail traders driving record activity across our product suite.

Today, November 28, the narrative is vastly different.

Rather than celebrating increased activity, the exchange operator is fighting to answer questions about the resilience of its infrastructure.

For now, a leading derivatives engine remains offline, idling not due to financial challenges, but an overheated data center that usually runs quietly in the background.

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Bitcoin price forecast: Will BTC push above $93k?

Key takeaways

  • BTC is up by less than 1% in the last 24 hours and is trading around $91,600.
  • The coin could rally higher as spot Bitcoin ETFs continue to record inflows.

Bitcoin ETFs record inflows

Bitcoin’s price is trading above the $91,600 mark on Friday after rebounding from key support levels over the weekend. The positive performance comes as institutional demand for Bitcoin increases, easing the recent selling pressure.

Data obtained from SoSoValue revealed that US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a mild inflow of $21.12 million on Wednesday, after a positive flow of $128.64 million the previous day. 

According to Glassnode’s weekly report, Bitcoin remains structurally fragile, as it is still trading below the $93k resistance level. The report added that with a weakening market structure, liquidity becomes the key lens for understanding what comes next.

Analysts are confident that the recent selling pressure is declining as volatility drops. In an email to Coinjournal, Dr. Sean Dawson, head of research at the onchain options platform, Derive.xyz, stated that the next phase would depend on the Fed’s interest rate decision in December. He stated that,

“Markets are balancing on a knife’s edge, but sentiment has stabilised meaningfully as expectations of a rate cut continue to recover. The probability of a 25 basis point cut at the upcoming FOMC meeting collapsed to 39% just a week ago, yet has since surged back to nearly 87%. In response, BTC has staged a strong rebound, rallying more than 10% from $82K to $91.5K at the time of writing.”

The shift in macro expectations has eased some of the intense bearish pressure that dominated the options market through late October and November. The 25-delta skew, a key measure of relative demand for puts versus calls, has moved sharply off its lows.

Bitcoin could extend its recovery towards the $100,000 mark

The BTC/USD 4-hour chart is bearish and efficient as Bitcoin has recovered excellently from its recent dip. The leading cryptocurrency found support around the key psychological level of $80,000 last week and has added 6% to its value since then. 

At press time, BTC is trading above $91k. If the recovery continues, it could extend the rally toward the next key psychological level at $100,000.

BTC/USD 4H Chart

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the 4-hour chart is 61, pointing upward toward the overbought level, indicating a growing bullish momentum. Additionally, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) showed a bullish crossover on Thursday, providing a buy signal and further supporting the potential continuation of the recovery.

However, failure to overcome the $93k resistance level could see Bitcoin retest the key support at $85,000.

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Crypto ETP provider Bitcoin Capital launches a BONK ETP on SIX Swiss Exchange

  • BONK ETP launches on SIX, giving European investors regulated access to the crypto.
  • BONK price jumps by 3.5%, outperforming broader crypto amid technical rebound.
  • Institutional demand may boost liquidity and tighten the circulating supply.

Swiss crypto ETP provider Bitcoin Capital has launched a regulated exchange-traded product (ETP) for the Solana-based meme coin BONK on Switzerland’s SIX Swiss Exchange.

This marks a major milestone for the memecoin as the ETP helps it to enter one of Europe’s largest and most established financial markets.

Expanding access to meme coins

The BONK ETP provides a bridge between the cryptocurrency community and traditional financial investors.

By creating a regulated vehicle, Bitcoin Capital makes it possible for those unfamiliar with crypto exchanges to participate in the meme coin ecosystem while benefiting from the oversight and credibility that comes with a listed product.

Marcel Niederberger, CEO of Bitcoin Capital and FiCAS AG, highlighted Switzerland’s regulatory framework and the SIX Exchange’s infrastructure as key factors in choosing the venue.

According to Niederberger, the combination of consistent supervision and developed market structures positions Switzerland as an ideal hub for launching digital asset ETPs.

For the broader crypto market, BONK’s ETP represents another step in the gradual institutionalisation of meme coins.

While Dogecoin (DOGE) has dominated the conversation in regulated markets, with ETFs and leveraged products appearing on US exchanges, BONK’s introduction to Europe reflects an appetite for thematic and community-driven digital assets.

Bitcoin Capital anticipates further expansion of regulated products referencing BONK in the coming year, including additional ETPs and structured notes, as European investors increasingly embrace digital assets within conventional investment frameworks.

Regulatory legitimacy for BONK

By bringing BONK to regulated platforms, Bitcoin Capital is opening a new chapter in the evolution of meme coins, demonstrating how niche tokens can gain legitimacy while maintaining a connection to their communities.

Notably, the Swiss crypto ETP provider will lock the underlying BONK tokens in the ETP, tightening the circulating supply and providing a level of certainty for investors often absent in purely digital markets.

This structure is expected to enhance investor confidence and attract capital from institutional desks, which historically account for the majority of inflows in Bitcoin Capital’s products.

By integrating BONK into a regulated environment, the product demonstrates that meme coins can transcend their origins as internet-driven tokens to become credible investment vehicles.

The timing of the launch is particularly noteworthy given the rapid growth of digital asset products across Europe and the United States.

Recent months have seen a surge in memecoin ETFs and structured products, including offerings tied to Dogecoin, highlighting a global trend toward regulated exposure to popular cryptocurrencies.

Following the Bonk ETP launch, the BONK price has jumped 3.5%, outperforming the broader crypto market, which rose around 2.84% today.

At press time, BONK memecoin was trading at $0.0599, and technical signals hint at a possible bullish trend, with BONK’s price reclaiming key moving averages and the RSI exiting oversold territory.

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EU introduces new crypto data-sharing rules for crypto-asset service providers

  • Crypto firms operating in the EU must report transactions and holdings in a standardised format.
  • Regulators will gain wider access to user data, raising privacy concerns.
  • ESMA may oversee major exchanges, centralising EU crypto supervision.

The European Union has unveiled a new set of rules that will significantly change how crypto-asset service providers operate across the bloc.

These changes are set to take effect on January 1, 2026, marking one of the EU’s most ambitious attempts to tighten control over crypto activities.

The rules will introduce standardised reporting requirements that will give tax authorities deeper visibility into the cryptocurrency market.

Tougher reporting requirements are coming

At the heart of the new framework is the expansion of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation, known as DAC8.

This update requires crypto exchanges, wallet providers, and other digital-asset operators to report customer holdings and transactions in a standardised digital format.

Once submitted, these reports will be automatically shared among EU tax authorities, enabling regulators to monitor crypto flows and trading activity more effectively.

The regulation, formalised under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2263, also mandates the creation of a comprehensive Crypto-Asset Operator register.

Each reporting operator will receive a unique 10-digit identification number, starting with an ISO country code, to simplify cross-border supervision.

Even when an operator is removed from the register, the information must be retained for up to 12 months, ensuring continuity in regulatory oversight.

Member states are expected to submit annual assessments to the European Commission using standardised reporting templates.

Privacy under the microscope

While the regulation is framed as a measure to combat tax fraud, financial crime, and market abuse, it raises significant privacy concerns for crypto users.

The Transfer of Funds Regulation, which extends the so-called “travel rule” to crypto transactions above €1,000, already requires identification of both senders and recipients, including interactions with self-hosted wallets.

Users may also be asked to verify ownership of their private wallets.

Combined with DAC8, these measures give regulators unprecedented insight into individual trading behaviour, wallet flows, and the activities of service providers.

The European Commission’s broader regulatory package works alongside the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework (MiCA) and upcoming anti-money laundering rules.

Large crypto operators will be expected to carry out detailed customer due diligence, report suspicious activities, and disclose energy consumption for their operations.

Supporters of the new rules, including ECB President Christine Lagarde, argue that a unified EU approach will replace fragmented national supervision, which has historically hindered consistent enforcement.

However, the plan to give the European Securities and Markets Authority direct oversight over major cross-border exchanges and clearing houses has drawn criticism from smaller financial hubs, including Luxembourg, Malta, and Ireland.

They warn that consolidating supervisory powers could raise compliance costs and disadvantage operators in smaller jurisdictions.

The Financial Stability Board, the G20’s leading financial watchdog, also recently noted that strict privacy laws worldwide often impede cross-border cooperation.

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