Friday’s contract expiration was remarkably reminiscent of the last days of the March and April contracts. May traded a new low for its tenure as prompt just as the two immediate predecessors, at $1.482, before settling at $1.614 (granted the low was traded in the early morning with little or no volume).
With May off the board at $1.614 the June (soon to be prompt) closed on Friday at $1.923, $.309 premium…nearly a dime (actually $.099) more that May was awarded over April and $.105 more than April over March. Deferred contracts have constructed their own trading ranges (discussed recently), each of which have ultimately been violated to the downside as the expiration of those contracts approached. April’s range was +/- $1.70 to $2.00 before it broke down to settlement day low of $1.481. The calendar March low was $.03/dt lower than the February low. May’s range during April’s turn as prompt was nearly the same as April’s had been except the upper limit was a little lower. Prompt May also broke down to a settlement day low ($1.482, holding .001 above the March low before recovering). Unless new prompt June falls $.442 during the last two trading days of April $1.482 likely, will be the April low, the first higher monthly low since October. Just to continue the analogy, a year ago the April low was $1.946, $.002 higher than the calendar March ’23 low. May ’23 traded that low on 04/14 rather than coincident with expiration and then settled higher at $2.117 (suggesting a departure from the established pattern).
