Crude Oil Futures: Further decline not ruled out

Traders increased their open interest positions in Crude Oil futures markets for the fifth consecutive session on Thursday, this time by more than 13K contracts as per flash data from CME Group. In the same line, volume went up for the second straight session, now by 302.1K contracts.

WTI still seen around $40.00/$41.00

Prices of the WTI tested and bounced off multi-day lows on Thursday. The move was amidst rising open interest and volume, opening the door for extra pullbacks in the very near-term. On the longer view, WTI is still seen within the consolidative range around $40.00/$41.00 per barrel.