Crude Oil Futures: A sustained drop seems unlikely

Considering advanced prints from CME Group for crude oil futures markets, open interest set aside two daily gains in a row and went down by round 3.5K contracts on Friday. In the same line, volume shrank by around 556.7K contracts, partially reversing the previous daily build.

WTI remains supported by the $72.00 region

Prices of WTI retreated further on Friday, revisiting the $74.00 region at the same time. The downtick was on the back of shrinking open interest and volume, which removes some strength from a potential continuation of the decline. Against that, there is still decent contention around the $72.00 zone per barrel for the time being.