Natural Gas Futures: A pause before further upside?

Considering advanced prints from CME Group for natural gas futures markets, open interest dropped for the second straight session on Thursday, now by around 86.3K contracts. Volume, instead, rose for the second session in a row, this time by around 168.7K contracts.

Natural Gas remains focused on $10.00

Prices of the MMBtu of natural gas clinched fresh cycle peaks near $9.50 on Thursday before reversing that move and close with modest losses. That daily performance was amidst shrinking open interest, leaving the door open to the continuation of the uptrend in the very near term. The next big magnet for bulls still emerges at the key $10.00 mark in the short-term horizon.