Natural Gas: Extended Trading Range Ahead

 | May 21, 2022 09:49PM ET

Last Wednesday, natural gas futures hit a weekly high at $8.546, but some profit-booking followed this move.

On Thursday, NG had a strong reversal from the day’s low at $7.908 and despite the bearish weekly injection of 89 Bcf, the post-inventory announcement move by the commodity was quite bullish, hitting the day’s high at $8.503.

Friday was frisky for natural gas traders as strong reversal from the day’s low at $7.837 was found, hitting the day’s high at $8.189 before closing the week at $8.083.

No doubt, NG maintained its price above the last week’s opening gap and finally closed the week above the next launching pad at $8.063.  

Natural gas futures have been maintaining the steep uptrend after a breakout move above $4.751 on Mar. 21 as the storage phobia had started to deepen, and the seasonally generated demand for natural gas was overlooked, as together with the Russian energy embargo, remain.

AccuWeather forecasted high temperatures in Philadelphia, jumping from 79 Fahrenheit (26.1 Celsius) on Thursday to 87 on Friday and 95 on Saturday. The city's normal high at this time of year is 75.

NG could find itself in an extended trading range from $6.5 to $9.7 as the uncertainty could continue to attract bears and the bulls remain active during the weeks ahead.

Only a breakout or a breakdown of this trading range could turn the trend one-sided.