Ping

The sideways chop surrounding the $4 price level in natural gas futures trading prevailed on Wednesday as the May contract ping-ponged between $3.933 and $4.044 before closing out the day’s regular session at $3.955, down two pennies from Tuesday’s finish.

Continuing its recent run of ping-pong trade sessions, March natural gas futures followed Friday’s nearly 16-cent drop with a gain of 14 cents on Monday to close at $4.557. More importantly, the prompt-month contract put in a new low for the move in overnight Sunday trading — proving that the bottom is not in just yet.

After ping-ponging between support at $6.875 and resistance at $7.19 for the previous seven trading days, May natural gas futures on Friday ended the week’s trading with an escape to the upside. Influenced by the strength in the petroleum complex, the natural gas prompt month peaked at $7.245 in afternoon trading before settling at $7.195, up 16.3 cents on the day and 19.8 cents higher for the week.

Trading on Wednesday looked much like it did Tuesday as April natural gas once again ping-ponged between resistance and support. Bolstered by a record day in crude futures, the natural gas prompt month was unable to get below the $7.06 low on the session, despite multiple attempts. April ended up settling at $7.192, up 1.3 cents.