Crude Oil Futures: Upside appears short-lived

Open interest in Crude Oil futures markets shrunk by nearly 22K contracts on Tuesday following two straight daily builds, according to preliminary figures from CME Group. Volume followed suit and dropped by 874.1K contracts, extended the erratic performance.

WTI faces downside pressure

Short covering fuelled Tuesday’s uptick in prices of the WTI to the boundaries of the $39.00 mark per barrel, as noted by shrinking open interest and volume. That said, the continuation of the uptrend lacks conviction and could spark a near-term correction to, initially, the 200-day SMA at $36.90.