According to preliminary readings from CME Group for crude oil futures markets, traders scaled back their open interest positions for yet another session on Tuesday, now by around 1.4K contracts. In the same line, volume reversed two daily builds and shrank markedly by around 192.8K contracts.

WTI: Next on the downside comes the May low near $98.00

Tuesday’s negative performance of WTI prices came on the back of shrinking open interest and volume, hinting at the idea that a sustained pullback looks unlikely in the very near term. Against that, crude oil prices are expected to meet contention at the May low at $98.23 (May 11).