Despite near term indicators having moved into oversold territory there was selling for the opening today which sent Jul’22 down its lowest level since mid-March of 18.73 during the first hour, though scale support was noted and consolidation back into the 18.80’s followed. This provided a platform from which the market was able to start upward once more and aided by some macro positivity the latter part of the morning saw an acceleration back upward to reach 19.17, filling the remainder of the gap established on Monday. Smaller specs and algorithms continued to nudge from the long side through the early afternoon but were only able to extend the upside to 19.26, and with so much of the volume having been generated by the fast-moving participants there was an inevitability about the subsequent pull back into the range as longs were closed back out. Volume was disappointing given the sizable 53-point range seen for Jul’22, and interestingly the Jul’22 volume grew by almost 50% in the final couple of hours to reach a “mere” 59,000 lots, possibly a sign that some more fund liquidation was being seen considering the failure to hold the highs. This sent the price back into negative ground during the final hour, and by the close only May’22 was showing a gain with Jul’22 settling 3 points lower at 18.90.
May’22 continues toward an anticipated small delivery with Open Interest having reduced to 31,107 as at Tuesday’s close. The spread was more volatile in the thinner liquidity today, ranging from 0.05 points to 0.17 points before closing at 0.12 points.
