Crude Oil Futures: The side-lined mood is seen unchanged

Traders scaled back their open interest positions by just 123 contracts at the beginning of the week, reaching the second drop in a row in light of preliminary readings from CME Group. On the other hand, volume reversed the previous drop and advanced by around 112.5K contracts.

WTI expected to keep navigating below $43.00/bbl

Prices of the WTI remain entrenched into the current consolidative range amidst erratic performance in both open interest and volume. This scenario is likely to prevail in the short-term horizon, while the key 200-day SMA at $42.80 per barre continues to cap the upside.