Considering advanced figures from CME Group for natural gas futures markets, open interest rose for the second consecutive session on Monday, now by around 5.3K contracts. Volume followed suit and went up by nearly 32K contracts, resuming the uptrend following the previous pullback.

Natural Gas: Upside limited around $5.20

Natural gas prices tested the $5.20 area on Monday before sparking a corrective downside along with rising open interest and volume. That said, extra decline now looks likely in the very near term with the next support of note at the 200-day SMA around $4.30 per MMBtu.