Open interest in gold futures markets shrank by more than 16K contracts on Wednesday, extending the downtrend for the third session in a row according to preliminary readings from CME Group. Volume followed suit and dropped by around 123.2K contracts.

Gold: Further upside targets the 200-day SMA

Gold prices corrected from recent peaks and printed humble losses on Wednesday. The downtick, however, was on the back of a marked pullback in open interest and volume, leaving the prospects for a deeper retracement diminished in the very near term. The continuation of the recent upside should meet the next hurdle of note at the critical $1,800 mark per ounce troy, which coincides with the equally relevant 200-day SMA ($1,802).