In light of advanced figures from CME Group for natural gas futures markets, open interest rose by nearly 8K contracts after fourth consecutive daily pullbacks on Thursday. Volume, on the other hand, shrank by around 101.3K contracts and reversed the previous daily build.

Natural Gas: Rising bets for another test of the sub-$2.00 area

Prices of the natural gas closed Thursday’s session just above the key $2.00 mark. The daily retracement was amidst rising open interest and opens the door to further weakness in the short-term horizon, and always with the immediate target at the 2023 low at $1.97 per MMBtu (February 22).