In light of advanced figures for natural gas futures markets from CME Group, traders added nearly 14.6K contracts to their open interest positions on Wednesday, reaching the seventh consecutive daily build. Volume, instead, extended the choppy activity as of late and shrunk by almost 180K contracts.

NATURAL GAS TRADES CLOSER TO $3.40/MMBTU

Natural gas prices seem comfortable above the key $3.00 mark, helped by the cold weather and the uptrend in open interest. While diminishing volume could slow the pace of the expected upside, the next target still emerges at the 2020 high around the $3.40 level per MMBtu (October 30).