A technical glitch shut down the Chicago Board of Trade's electronic trading system, e-cbot, for about three hours Monday.
The exchange's trading system shut down at 9.20am due to "sporadic connectivity issues". But the system was up and running at 11.10am only to shut down again 20 minutes later. Trading resumed at 12.30pm.
The disruptions were the longest since Cbot switched to the e-cbot system, which was supplied by Euronext.liffe, over a year ago.
In a statement, Bryan Durkin, COO and EVP, Cbot, says access to the e-cbot electronic trading system incurred intermittent connectivity issues: "As a result, it was determined that a temporary suspension of electronic trading was appropriate in order to maintain consistent and fair access for all market participants."
Cbot says around 65% of total trading volume is done electronically, but most of those contracts are also traded on the floor and weren't affected by the glitch.
The systems failure caused Canada's Winnipeg Commodity Exchange to stop trading and also affected markets in Kansas City and Minneapolis.
The glitch comes as London's International Petroleum Exchange votes to shut its open cry trading floor in London on 7 April and switch to an all-electronic operation.
In a statement, IPE says the board's decision has been taken to maintain and enhance the competitive position of the exchange as well as to take advantage of the greater acceptance and adoption of electronic trading.
The exchange closed its morning open-outcry trading session in November last year in a bid to increase electronic trading volumes.
The IPE's latest move comes just weeks after New York Merchantile Exchange (Nymex) said it plans to launch an open outcry trading floor in London.