NYMEX natural gas monthly settlement prices

The New York Mercantile Exchange (also known as the NYMEX), is an organized market where buyers/sellers trade futures commodities. Further more it's one of the world largest exchanges for energy and metals, with one of the most common commodities traded being theNYMEX Natural Gas futures market. In fact the NYMEX natural gas market is the third largest physical commodity futures contract in the world by pure volume traded. Which is why there is so much importance regarding NYMEX settlement history.   NYMEX natural gas Prices fluctuate by the second during daily trading hours, and these futures prices set the basis for what consumers will pay for this commodity.

When it comes to natural gas trading and looking forward to NYMEX natural gas settlement prices the NYMEX trades on what is known as futures contracts. These contracts are legally binding agreements to ensure that both the buyer and the seller agree upon the specified price for that specific month in the future.

Futures contracts was originally created as way for farmers to lock in their selling prices for commodities they were yet to produce. It was a way to hedge their bet against volatile prices. Obviously since then the commodities markets have expanded to include more than just agriculture products such as the NYMEX Natural Gas settlement prices above.

So what impacts the NYMEX natural gas markets current prices? Like all of the other commodities traded on the NYMEX, natural gas is impacted by supply and demand. As you can imagine, there are a few different factors which effect the NYMEX settlement prices.

If you are researching current NYMEX natural gas prices or NYMEX settlement history you have probably come across the term “Henry Hub” . The Henry Hub is the national gas distribution system located in Louisiana. It serves as the main hub connecting the major natural gas pipelines in the United States. NYMEX traders use the Henry Hub to clear settlement prices every month.

All futures contracts can be active and traded for a very specific amount of time. Once a contract expires, it cannot be traded anymore. The last trading day for which a futures contract can be traded before it expires is known as its expiration date. The NYMEX settlement prices listed above are only considered final at the close of the expiration date.