Open interest in natural gas futures markets shrank by just 122 contracts on Wednesday after four consecutive daily builds in a row, noted preliminary readings from CME Group. On the flip side, volume extended the erratic performance and went up by nearly 9K contracts.

Natural Gas: Target remains at $9.00

Prices of natural gas briefly surpassed $8.50 on Wednesday, although ended the session with modest gains. The daily uptick was on the back of a small drop in open interest, indicative that further gains could be running out of steam in the very near term. In the meantime, the big magnet for bulls remains at the 2022 peak around the $9.00 mark per MMBtu (May 6).