ICE reports record liquidity for natural gas contracts

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) said September 11 its global natural gas futures markets reached record liquidity levels in late August and early September, including record open interest (OI) in US financial gas futures and options markets and record OI in TTF futures.

ICE’s global natural gas futures market reached a record OI of 22.4mn contracts on August 27, up 15% from a year ago. 

In North America, US financial gas futures and options markets hit a series of OI records in August and September, including a record 11.7mn contracts on September 3, up 13% year-on-year. Henry Hub markets, the US benchmark, saw OI up 26% y/y.

In Europe, ICE TTF futures also reached a series of OI records through August, topping out at a record 2.1mn contracts on August 29, a 53% increase y/y. TTF options also saw strong activity, with OI at 2.2mn contracts, up 86% y/y.

“The increasing interconnectedness of natural gas around the globe, driven by the liberalisation of LNG, has implications for natural gas trade, pricing and the way market participants think about risk,” said Trabue Bland, senior vice president, Futures Markets at ICE. “With this in mind, ICE has worked for over two decades to create a global platform for natural gas trading that supports globalisation of the fuel.”