Quoted from: HOUSTON, Oct 18, 2006 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- http://product.inlumen.com/bin/story?StoryId=CrtwMWaCrmJKXCJm3mtq&FQ=nymex&HdlFmt=related
... With mixed forecasts for colder weather next week and large amounts of gas in storage, traders did not see a reason for the November contract to rally as much as it did. The large gain for November futures was seen driven in part by at least one individual trader or fund that was bidding for the November contract, a trader said.
"There is a non-market force at work, an individual or fund that is buying November," a trader said.
One bid the trader saw enter the market Wednesday was for 300 November contracts. One contract equals 10,000 MMBtu's. The trade was not executed, the trader said. The November contract rally was inexplicable, traders and analysts said.
"November wants to go lower, but somebody's doing a fine job of keeping it up," added the trader.
Earlier in the day other traders said the rally was due in part to a hedge fund needing to liquidate its contracts.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel Investment Group, who bought failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC's energy trading portfolio, were seen liquidating large spread positions this week and buying up near-month contracts, a trader said. ...
Notice Henry spot is almost caught up w/ Nov. But my concern now is, aside from the spread unwinding, etc, why premium in winter months seems low to me. The spread on the Nov/Dec has narrowed .70 in just 3 days. Does anyone study these relationships between front/back months over history? Perhaps someone can comment further on these spread relationships and their experiences in the past.
I'm long Dec since Friday, but I wish I would've picked up Nov this time.
cheers and good luck