# Explainer: Why U.S. natural gas prices spiked by a record 70% on Thursday

> U.S. natural gas prices spiked by a record 70% on Thursday, driven by low-volume trading in the expiring February contract. Most traders had already moved to other contract months, leaving thin liquidity in the final session.

- Date: 2022-01-28 · published 2022-01-28T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: market · region US · magnitude medium
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/6911-explainer-why-u-s-natural-gas-prices-spiked-by-a-record-70-on-thursday
- Commodities: [Natural Gas](https://feedsoft.ai/c/NATGAS.md)

## Why it matters

The move was largely a technical expiry effect rather than a physical supply shift, so it signals volatility in Henry Hub pricing for buyers hedging feed-energy costs. Prompt-month price discovery was distorted, which can raise hedging costs for feed mills.

## Read by commodity

- NATGAS: bullish ▲

## Linked price moves

| Commodity | Date | Window | Change % | z-score | Why linked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NATGAS | 2022-01-27 | 1 | +21.0% | 4.6 | The explainer describes the record ~70% Thursday spike from low-liquidity expiry trading, the same mechanism, but it was published 2022-01-28, after the move date. |

## Sources

- reuters.com: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/why-us-natural-gas-prices-spiked-by-record-70-thursday-2022-01-28/

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.