--- title: "Technical failure at CME causes interruption in natural gas and metal futures trading, all orders placed on Wednesday were canceled" description: "This is the second systematic trading interruption at CME within about a month, coinciding with the expiration date of the March natural gas futures contract on Wednesday. Market participants stated t" type: "news" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/276935176.md" published_at: "2026-02-25T20:47:14.000Z" --- # Technical failure at CME causes interruption in natural gas and metal futures trading, all orders placed on Wednesday were canceled > This is the second systematic trading interruption at CME within about a month, coinciding with the expiration date of the March natural gas futures contract on Wednesday. Market participants stated that the "freeze" occurring before the market close is "extremely bad timing," and "all participants using futures as pricing and hedging tools have been affected." The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group experienced a technical failure this Wednesday, forcing a trading interruption of over half an hour in its natural gas and metal futures markets. This is another systemic trading interruption in the CME market following the abnormal halt of benchmark natural gas futures a month ago, coinciding with the expiration date of the March natural gas futures contracts, making the market impact significant. CME announced the suspension of CME Globex metal and natural gas futures and options trading at 12:15 PM North American Central Time on February 25, and approximately 25 minutes later, it released the resumption schedule: the natural gas futures market reopened at 12:50 PM, while the metal futures market was delayed until 1:45 PM. CME also announced that all orders placed on that day and GTD orders marked with that day's date would be completely canceled, while only confirmed GTC orders would remain valid. After the failure occurred, Bloomberg data showed that starting at 2 AM Beijing time on February 26, trading data for COMEX gold, silver, copper futures, and NYMEX natural gas futures began to show "missing" entries. Trading for natural gas futures resumed after 3 AM Beijing time, with the increase expanding to over 3%, refreshing the intraday high to $3.017. Nicky Shiels, head of metal strategy at MKS PAMP SA, stated that a "freeze" occurring before the market close is "extremely bad timing," and "all participants using futures as pricing and hedging tools were affected." ## Timeline of the Failure: Four System Alerts in 25 Minutes The system alerts published on the CME website clearly outline the incident handling process. At 12:11 PM Central Time on February 25, the CME Global Command Center (GCC) alerted that it was aware of a technical issue affecting metal and natural gas futures and options and was investigating. Four minutes later, at 12:15 PM, CME officially announced that the aforementioned markets "had suspended trading." At 12:33 PM, CME issued an operational notice explaining the arrangements for order handling before the market's resumption. At 12:40 PM, CME further announced the specific resumption time for the natural gas futures market. The resumption notice for the metal futures market was subsequently issued, with the opening time delayed by about 55 minutes compared to natural gas futures. CME did not specify the exact cause of this technical failure. ## Second Trading Halt in a Month, Compounding Issues on Natural Gas Contract Expiration Date The timing of this failure is particularly sensitive. The March natural gas futures contract in the U.S. expired on February 25, and the trading interruption directly interfered with the normal settlement process of the contracts nearing expiration, leaving position traders facing additional operational uncertainty. This is the second trading interruption in the CME's natural gas futures market within about a month. According to previous reports, during a record surge in natural gas futures prices on January 27, the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) under CME implemented an abnormal halt lasting two minutes during the market close phase, which caused discrepancies in the settlement price, leaving traders, who were already tense due to demand expectations fluctuating sharply due to cold weather, confused The occurrence of trading interruptions twice within a month has significantly raised market concerns about the stability of the CME trading system. Nicky Shiels' statement reflects the general worries in the market: any failure of trading infrastructure during critical price discovery windows could have a substantial impact on institutional investors who rely on futures for pricing and risk management ### Related Stocks - [AEM.US - Agnico Eagle Mines](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AEM.US.md) - [601899.CN - Zijin Mining](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/601899.CN.md) - [518850.CN - ChinaAMC Gold ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/518850.CN.md) - [CME.US - CME](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CME.US.md) - [NEM.US - Newmont](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NEM.US.md) - [GOLD.US - Gold.com](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GOLD.US.md) - [GDX.US - VanEck Gold Miners ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GDX.US.md) - [GLD.US - SPDR Gold Shares](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GLD.US.md) - [KGC.US - Kinross Gold](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/KGC.US.md) - [159562.CN - ChinaAMC CSI SH-SZ-HK Gold Industry Equity ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/159562.CN.md) ## Related News & Research | Title | Description | URL | |-------|-------------|-----| | 【每日通告】巴拿馬撤銷長和 (1) 旗下港口特許經營權，愛德新能源 (2623) 斥 2.18 億港元收購澳洲黃金生產商股權 | 巴拿馬最高法院裁決撤銷長和旗下港口的特許經營權，APM 接手管理。愛德新能源以 2.18 億港元收購澳洲黃金生產商近 10% 股權。星凱控股預計中期虧損收窄至 1200 萬至 1800 萬元。中國建築興業發盈警，預計全年純利大跌至 2.37 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276676381.md) | | 美國芝加哥商品交易所在短暫中斷後重新恢復天然氣期貨和期權的交易 | 抱歉，我無法處理該請求 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276929812.md) | | 10 年前投資紐蒙特礦業的 100 美元今天會值多少 | 紐蒙特礦業（NYSE:NEM）在過去十年中實現了平均年回報率 17.19%，超出市場 3.95%。目前市值為 1351 億美元，十年前對 NEM 股票的 100 美元投資現在價值 480.41 美元，反映了複利對投資增長的顯著影響 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276813892.md) | | 黃金價格接近四周高點 | 黃金價格保持在每盎司 5180 美元以上，接近四周高點，受到地緣政治緊張局勢和美國貿易政策不確定性的影響。美國在中東的軍隊增兵和對伊朗的制裁加劇了投資者的焦慮。此外，特朗普政府計劃將關税提高至 15% 也引發了貿易伙伴的擔憂。持續的通脹擔憂 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276968775.md) | | 期權熱點｜周一 GDX 漲 3%，部分看漲期權飆升 207% | 美東時間 2026-02-23，金礦股 ETF - VanEck Vectors 期權總成交 117006 張，看漲期權佔比 62%，看跌期權佔比 37%。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276681625.md) | --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.