Natural Gas Futures: Room for extra advance near term

CME Group’s advanced prints for natural gas futures markets noted open interest rose for the fourth session in a row on Wednesday, now by around 35.6K contracts, the largest single-day build so far this year. Volume, in the same direction, increased sharply by around 282.6K contracts, reversing the previous day’s drop.

Natural gas now looks to $5.00

Prices of natural gas rose nearly 15% on Wednesday to the vicinity of the $5.00 mark per MMBtu, levels last seen in late November. The sharp move was accompanied by higher open interest and volume, which is supportive of extra gains in the very near term. That said, the key $5.00 mark remains the next magnet for bulls in the very near term at least.