Traders scaled back their open interest positions in natural gas futures markets by more than 5K contracts on Thursday, as per preliminary readings from CME Group. In the same line, volume extended the choppy activity seen as of late and shrank sharply by nearly 366K contracts.

Natural Gas capped by $5.60/MMBtu

Prices of natural gas plummeted on Thursday, reversing at the same time the previous acute uptick. The move was in tandem with shrinking open interest and volume, which removes strength from the prospect of a deeper correction in the very near term. In the meantime, recent peaks in the $5.60 region now emerge as the next resistance of note in case bulls resume the uptrend.