Natural Gas Update December 26,2025

Overview

Natural Gas--February NG is up 7.0 cents at $3.830
NG futures are higher as weather demand is set to increase after the weekend.

The January LN/NG options expire today with the following strikes showing significant open interest on the CME as per Wednesday's data. The $4.25 strike has total open interest of 32,163 contracts, while the $4.30 strike has a total open interest of 21,798 contracts. The $4.50 strike has open interest of 37,517 contracts.

Total natural gas demand in the US, including exports, for the week ending December 22 fell 11.5 percent week-over-week but remains 1.2 percent higher than the same week last year, according to preliminary data from S&P Global Commodity Insights (S&P Global). On Wednesday, LSEG projected average gas demand in the lower 48 states, including exports, would rise from 127.9 BCF/d this week to 136.4 BCF/d over the next two weeks. The demand forecast for this week and next was up 0.4 BCF/d from that seen Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the front end of the NG futures curve gave back some of the recent strong gains seen as on the day the weather forecasts gave back some demand. January NG settled down 16.6 cents, February down 13.6 cents and March down 7.4 cents.

CFTC data issued Wednesday for the week ended Tuesday December 16 showed money managers adding 40,288 contracts to their net short position in NG futures/options on the CME. That brought the net short total position up to 65,722 contracts. The increase in net shorts coincided with the straight line sharp sell off during that week of $1 in spot NG futures from the high $4.80 area seen the week before that. This large increase in money managers' net short positioning thus may have set the market up for the reverse move up seen at the beginning of this week with January futures and options set to expire.

Technically, February NG has positive momentum. Resistance comes in at 3.976-3.979 and then at 4.042-4.045. Support lies at the double bottom from Wednesday/today at 3.727-3.733. Below that support is seen at 3.617-3.618.

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Disclaimer

This article and its contents are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any commodity, futures contract, option contract, or other transaction. Although any statements of fact have been obtained from and are based on sources that the Firm believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee their accuracy, and any such information may be incomplete or condensed.

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