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Natgas

The Bogeyman in Futures TradingNYMEX: Dutch Natural Gas ( NYMEX:TTF1! ), Henry Hub Natural Gas ( NYMEX:NG1! ) and WTI Crude Oil ( NYMEX:CL1! ) Amid a deep energy crisis faced by Europe, Dutch natural gas futures hit a new record of €350 per megawatt hour in August. Governments across the European Union adopted new rules to reduce electricity usage. In just two months, with a dramatic turn of events, natural gas prices in both Europe and the U.S. dipped below zero last week. TTF Next Hour Contract, which reflects real-time European market conditions, fell to -€15.78 on Monday, October 24th. The Waha index — a main indicator of natural gas supplies in the Permian Basin in West Texas, dropped to -54¢/mmBtu on the same day. What has made the highly sought-after energy source worthless? Europe: LNG Overflow and Insufficient Storage TTF contracts are for physical delivery of natural gas through the transfer of rights at the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) Virtual Trading Point, operated by Gasunie Transport Services (GTS), the transmission system operator in the Netherlands. Due to sanctions on Russia, European countries have been buying natural gas globally to prepare for peak winter consumption and asked the public to conserve energy. With increase in gas supply and decrease in gas usage, their efforts paid off. The average gas storage level in the EU has reached 93.4% of capacity, and the storage level in Germany has reached 97.5%. In addition to near-full storage levels, many LNG tankers are heading to Europe. According to Marine Traffic, out of the 641 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers in operation worldwide, sixty are already in the north-west Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Iberian Peninsula. Many LNG ships sit idly outside of ports because they cannot be unloaded. Clarksons Securities estimated that the voyage cost of an LNG carrier runs between $276,700 to $313,000 per day. This amounts to $8.3 - $9.4 million a month. In order to stop the bleeding, sellers are so desperate that they would pay someone to take over the shipment. US: Overloaded Pipelines Due to Planned Repairs Waha Index Futures is based upon the mathematical result of subtracting the monthly price published by Inside FERC from the average of the daily prices published by Gas Daily. Permian gas is produced mainly in the form of associated gas, a by-product from crude oil drilling. Crude production from the prolific basin has hit record highs this year, topping 5.4 million barrels per day in October, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Natural gas pipelines in the Permian Basin of West Texas cannot operate normally as they are already fully loaded, and natural gas can only be stockpiled in the Permian Basin. Planned repairs on Kinder Morgan's Gulf Coast Express (GCX) pipeline appear to be the tipping point for the negative prices. Flows on GCX were cut by 38% through October 28th. The constraints forced Permian producers to sell gas at wider discounts to the US benchmark, Henry Hub. Spot prices turned negative on October 24th, meaning sellers have to pay buyers to move the gas. Bogeyman in Physical Delivery Specifications for futures contracts are very specific (hence the name). Exchanges strive to include all possible scenarios in contract design. With respect to the most important features, namely, the grade of the underlying commodity and the methods of trade settlement, no alternations are allowed unless they are specifically spelled out in the Rules Book. Both TTF and Waha reflect spot prices of natural gas physically delivered to the contract-specified locations. These designs worked well at normal times. However, under extreme conditions, sellers could not make delivery due to insufficient storage or overloaded pipelines. Negative pricing is the bogeyman in TTF and Waha. This bizarre phenomenon is a lesser evil for sellers, who have to choose between taking a known loss and potentially bigger exposure with holding unfulfilled financial obligations. How did we get here? In recent years, as developed countries are fully committed to combatting global warming, new investments are flowing into renewable energy, and away from traditional fossil fuel such as oil, gas and coal. As a result, gas pipelines and storage facilities are underfunded and lacking maintenance and upgrades. This year’s geopolitical crisis exposed the risk of getting rid of “dirty energy” too soon before clean energy picks up its pace. TTF Next Hour contract serves as a risk management tool for high-frequency gas traders. The benchmark for European natural gas is actually the TTF Calendar Month Futures. It never turned negative and is quoted at €139 on October 28th. The benchmark for US natural gas is not Waha Index, but NYMEX Henry Hub (NG). It peaked at $9.70/MMBtu in August and is trading at $5.625 on October 30th. Remember the Negative Oil Prices? On April 20, 2020, the front-month May 2020 WTI crude contract ( NYMEX:CL1! ) dropped by 306%, or $55.90, for the session, to settle at negative $37.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. WTI first came to the market in 1983. It was the most successful futures contract in the history of NYMEX. Each contract calls for physical delivery of 1,000 barrels of crude oil at any storage facility in Cushing, Oklahoma. In the next 30+ years, the exponential growth in WTI trading has outgrown the capacity in Cushing. In April 2020, all storage facilities eligible to take delivery were completely full. Sellers had to pay buyers to take the crude oil shipment off their hands. That was the first time a futures contract closed at a negative value. We could see the same bogeyman at play in TTF and Waha. How to Avoid Getting Caught in Negative Prices Unless you are a commercial trader who could make delivery, take delivery, and store shipment, it is highly risky to hold any open positions (long or short) during a contract expiration month. Futures contracts have two methods of final settlement – physical delivery and cash settlement. All financial futures are cash settled. These include equity indexes, interest rates, foreign exchange, and cryptocurrency futures. Commodities futures, including energy, metals, and agricultural commodities, are a mixed bag. They were all deliverable contracts at the beginning. Newer contracts have adopted cash settlement with the help of cash price index, such as CME Lean Hog Futures. Despite the methods of delivery, be it physical delivery or cash settlement, closing out the positions before expiration month is a prudent strategy. Doing so will also avoid getting caught in the depletion of liquidity. Commodity market liquidity is usually rolled over to the next contract month well before expiration date. Happy trick-or-treating ! *Trade ideas cited above are for illustration only, as an integral part of a case study to demonstrate the fundamental concepts in risk management under the market scenarios being discussed. They shall not be construed as investment recommendations or advice. Nor are they used to promote any specific products, or services. CME Real-time Market Data help identify trade set-ups and express my market views. If you have futures in your trading portfolio, check out on CME Group data plans in TradingView that suit your trading needs www.tradingview.com
NYMEX:NG1!Long
by JimHuangChicago
11
Oct 27,22-NG Winner AGAIN-700 pt profitThis week is a good week!! Last night I closed out my 5.5 Buy Order for another 700 point profit (officially 695 point profit) to close at 6.2 (officially 6.195). Next up is my Buy Order at 6 which currently is in profit territory. The storage report is today so we shall see what happens. I might get out of my position with a small profit. Not sure. Then there is still my Buy Order at 7, where I was a little early (ok a LOT early) with my bullish prediction. Should be an interesting finish to this year. Stay safe all and trade smart. Heiko
NYMEX:NG1!Long
by HEIKOTradingSystem
NATURAL GAS - NatGas - shortAs said before the "pausa" for Pull Back .. this is not an easy trade. All the world think about an increase of energetics price for the winter but based on technical point in this moment we cannot confirm that. The pull back .. until this moment was really short.. without "energy" .. and arrived only to 0,38 of thirt wave.. this let me to think that probably the short momentum is not completed. Before I wrote and now confirm that: 1) COT report say that non commercial are short (with increase) 2) Europe has completed the "stock" for this winter 3) Europe has created a big plan to reduce the electricity consumption 4) USA has a short possibilities for increase the natural gas export at least for the next one mounths 5) The petroil cost are decrease and could be more convenient that GAS --- From TA we have still on going the big H&S and a little bit H&S in this last movement.. so all this with technical wave analysis suggest a short continuation ... Stop Over the 7,2$ Trade safe.. always
NShort
by flyhorse
Oct 25,22-NG-FINALLY price is going up :-)In looking at the chart, you can see how price dropped quite a bit outside the Linear Regression Indicator but price is on it's way back up. Yesterday was the first day in a long time of positive gains, hopefully going to finish the week off in green territory. As previously discussed, I put another Buy Order in at 5, which is now in profit so that's good. Just waiting for price to continue skyrocketing. FYI - price will probably NOT skyrocket up to 10 or anything, but will very slowly make it's way up there over the winter. So this could be a 4 month grind, so get your Big Boy Pants on and strap in for a crazy ride - between the War, Recession, Sky high interest rates and Bankruptcies (more to come over the next 6-12 months) it's going to be a crazy 2023!! Stay safe! Heiko
NYMEX:NG1!Long
by HEIKOTradingSystem
2
NATGAS // officially in a short trend on the weeklyNATGAS closed below the starting point of the last impulse wave up, meaning the trend has turned on the weekly chart as well. This short trend is valid until the brown validity zone is taken back by the buyers. Any move up is only a correction of the south impulse wave, and a break of this countertrend makes the price fall. Of course, it can go on falling, but a countertrend may come soon. Trade safe! ⚪️⚫️ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANYWAY, a lot of Qs about the direction of the price. But it doesn't matter. WE JUST REACT! Remember that trading is a business. SIZE your TRADES according to your risk aversion! ----------------------------------------------------------
CAPITALCOM:NATURALGASShort
by TheMarketFlow
NATURAL GAS: HUGE OPPORTUNITYHi guys, following my recent analysis on silver, i'm looking also at Natgas. In my opinion this winter we'll see many problem in Europe and if governments try to save many countries, we'll see the price fall but then rise in the coming months, just after this winter. Why? Well governments will try to save countries in the short term "printing money" (i mean with interest rate, qe, etc) but then they will be forced to did a step back pushing the price up. Europe need gas, it's improbable to not see the price go up. Be prepared and let's see.
PEPPERSTONE:NATGAS
by yellow_ag