At Least It Was a Dime

Daily Continuous

Well, at least yesterday’s range was a dime– Be careful out there with your positions (sarcasm included). Today provides the potential for option expiration “creativity” but due to the lack of movement in the last two weeks, I would doubt any fireworks. I am more keen on watching the $2.58-$2.59 area with both the April and May contract. For the last two weeks, prices have not been able to break above and close above this zone — but the May contract has and continues to. Will the weakness continue and force the May to come back and close with April next week? A rhetorical question that bears watching– we certainly have expectations of what happens after the market’s decision.

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Look At Crude

Daily Continuation

This consolidation is starting to bore me as I had to go out to crude market to find some sort of volatility (nice bounce off of a higher low in crude). Gas has a tendency to fall into these lulls (lacking volatility and price movement) but an $.08 movement followed by a $.042 range is bordering on bizarre for gas. Markets are what they are and this one seems very quiet currently.

Support: $2.422-$2.414, $2.373$2.356,$2.255-$2.176
Minor Support: $2.483, $2.162
Major Resistance: $2.74-$2.789, $2.89, $2.98-$3.05,
Minor Resistance:$2.806

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No Break Out

Daily Continuous

Not much to comment on as prices just retraced back into the the area just below the gap from last week. Very quiet set up for the storage release tomorrow and clearly a consolidating market wait for additional directional bias.

Support: $2.422-$2.414, $2.373$2.356,$2.255-$2.176
Minor Support: $2.483, $2.162
Major Resistance: $2.74-$2.789, $2.89, $2.98-$3.05,
Minor Resistance:$2.806

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Gap Closes

Daily Continuous

Commented numerous times last week about the potential for the gap that was formed last Monday to be closed and was a target for traders. Needless to say, I am startled to see it happen on Monday this week as that is in the face of the previous two Monday’s price action. Never the less, it did and now trade will have to work through the rally with expiration coming in a week. I was expecting recent ranges to remain in place for the beginning of the week and then form a break down or break out during the last couple of days of prompt life. I want to wait and see if this slightly bullish bias holds this week as the market is not near the highs nor the lows of the month’s trade range ($2.422-$2.887).

Support: $2.422-$2.414, $2.373$2.356,$2.255-$2.176
Minor Support: $2.483, $2.162
Major Resistance: $2.74-$2.789, $2.89, $2.98-$3.05,
Minor Resistance:$2.806

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Seasonal Trends End Oddly in 2020

Monthly Continuous

As most of you know, I have discussed over the years, the seasonal tendencies in natural gas, with the Q1 of the fiscal year showing weakness; Q2 bringing strength in prices; Q3 typically weak for prices; and the Q4 is met with support and stronger prices. Last year had some abnormal aspects to this historical pattern. The Q1 low came on time at the end of March; the Q2 high came in May after only a 13 day run; the q3 lows came at the end of June trade on the July expiration; and the Q4 high came in early November, a common theme. The Q1 low for 2021 seems to be December 28th low at $2.23 unless the coming six days bring a test. After last week’s failure to expand the lows significantly– not sure there is enough action to test and break the Dec low.

That being said, there seems to be great interest in moving prices lower as the Chart below shows. It seems that the Managed Money Shorts have recently blown out their position in the last couple of weeks. Since the middle of February the short position has nearly doubled and now stand at nearly 200,000 contracts. Looking at the price movement– it seems the sector sells the contract at the beginning of the week (the CFTC data is dated on the Tuesday of each week) as that is when the significant declines have occurred in the last couple of weeks.

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Sunday Night Weakness Returns

Daily Continuous

For the third Sunday in a row — prices open weaker after bouncing off the lows during the week prior. Not sure about the trend but I did find it interesting that the Managed Money Short positions (speculative short sector) has increased their positions dramatically in the last couple of weeks (discussed in the Weekly section) and they are required to report positions at the end of the trade day on Tuesday. It would be consistent to the trend to have prices lower today and retest the support areas from last week. Longer term — would think this market may trade in the recent range from the gap $2.56 and the lows of last week during the coming week as there doesn’t seem to be any fundamental reason to impact prices.

Support: $2.422-$2.414, $2.373$2.356,$2.255-$2.176
Minor Support: $2.483, $2.162
Major Resistance: $2.74-$2.789, $2.89, $2.98-$3.05,
Minor Resistance:$2.806

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Neither Event Occurred

Daily Continuous

Spoke yesterday about the potential for two outcomes from the potential volatility associated with the storage report– the third outcome was the market goes nowhere. We got the third outcome and though there was a good rally off of the initial knee jerk decline, prices just settled back to where they have been the last couple of day. Volume was strong for the day as prices churned during the day-open interest has not been posted yet.

Support: $2.422-$2.414, $2.373$2.356,$2.255-$2.176
Minor Support: $2.483, $2.162
Major Resistance: $2.74-$2.789, $2.89, $2.98-$3.05,
Minor Resistance:$2.806

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Does the Gap Close

Daily Continuous

Well yesterday proved inconclusive to direction but today is a storage release may give the market the volatility to break out or extend the breakdown. If the gap ($2.566-$2.584) closes, from the first of the week, and prices get into the $2.60’s there are not a lot of resistance areas for a dime higher. To the downside there are areas of support around $2.44 down to $2.37.

Support: $2.422-$2.414, $2.373$2.356,$2.255-$2.176
Minor Support: $2.483, $2.162
Major Resistance: $2.74-$2.789, $2.89, $2.98-$3.05,
Minor Resistance:$2.806

Initial Test of Support

Daily Continuous

Well, I forgot to load the comment in the Daily so it could be published on time and the Daily did not go out– my apologies. However, the trend lower ran into some buying, reversing the declines of late and allowing prices to rally. Is the market going to provide the range trade that it did in Feb? not sure but the next week will tell. Play the range from a trading perspective.

Support: $2.564, $2.422, $2.373$2.356,$2.255-$2.176
Minor Support: $2.483, $2.162
Major Resistance: $2.74-$2.789, $2.89, $2.98-$3.05,
Minor Resistance:$2.806

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Break Down Continues

Daily Continuous

Early trade on Sunday night confirmed the extension of the bearish bias of late with the April contract. The Weekly has some thoughts on where prices may be headed longer to mid-term. For the Daily — look for additional tests at the Jan low of Feb gas at $2.564 down to $2.422. There are some additional areas of support discussed in the Weekly area.

Support: $2.564, $2.422, $2.373$2.356,$2.255-$2.176
Minor Support: $2.483, $2.162
Major Resistance: $2.74-$2.789, $2.89, $2.98-$3.05,
Minor Resistance:$2.806

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