Open interest in natural gas futures markets dropped for the third session in a row on Tuesday, now by around 3.2K contracts according to preliminary results from CME Group. Volume followed suit and went down for the second straight session, this time by around 76.6K contracts.

Natural Gas faces further consolidation near term

Prices of the natural gas added to the positive start of the week and advanced modestly on Tuesday amidst diminishing open interest and volume. Against that, the commodity is expected to keep the consolidative mood unchanged at least in the very near term. In the meantime, the 200-day SMA at $6.85 per MMBtu continues to cap the upside so far.