Milder weather trends and the diminishing threat of extreme winter price spikes had natural gas futures in freefall early Tuesday. After plummeting 62.3 cents to open the week, the January Nymex contract was off an additional 28.8 cents to trade at $4.566/MMBtu as of around 8:50 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The continued selling for the January contract comes as mild weather to this point in the heating season has lowered the risks of a winter supply crunch, according to EBW Analytics Group senior energy analyst Eli Rubin.

“Nymex valuations had previously priced in the risk of significantly colder weather sending winter contracts sharply higher,” Rubin said. “As December warmth continues to build and the storage trajectory continues to rise, however, the dwindling of high-leverage winter...