New York, Feb 16, 2026, 12:34 (EST) — The market is shut.
- March NYMEX Henry Hub natural gas futures slipped roughly 21 cents, trading close to $3.04 per million British thermal units (MMBtu).
- United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) ended Friday at $12.44.
- The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release the next weekly gas storage numbers on Feb. 19.
Natural gas futures in the U.S. tumbled over 6% on Monday, pulling the March benchmark contract down near $3 per MMBtu—the typical pricing unit in domestic gas markets. With Presidents Day shutting down U.S. stock and bond trading, markets will open again Tuesday.
Weather and storage concerns remain front and center after a wild winter that whipsawed prices from scarcity to surplus. The Energy Information Administration reported Henry Hub spot gas prices averaged $7.72 per MMBtu in January, surging to a daily record of $30.72 on Jan. 23 as Winter Storm Fern hit. Then on Feb. 2, the prompt-month contract suffered its steepest single-day fall in three decades when forecasts warmed.
The shift has a ripple effect on everything tied to Henry Hub—think LNG export margins and the ETPs that track the front end of the U.S. futures curve.
UNG ranks among the top U.S.-listed gas funds by volume, designed to track daily price swings tied to Henry Hub.
UNG closed at $12.44 on Friday, ticking up roughly 0.1%. Trading volume landed around 8.8 million shares. That’s the last close investors saw before the ETF returns to the market on Tuesday.
Storage kept tripping up expectations. For the week ended Feb. 6, the EIA reported working gas in storage at 2,214 billion cubic feet (Bcf) after a 249 Bcf withdrawal—less than the 256 Bcf draw analysts polled by Investing.com had penciled in.
EBW Analytics Group analyst Eli Rubin pointed to signs of “faltering demand” as the holiday weekend approached, according to a report picked up by Rigzone. Rubin noted that the March contract briefly hit $3.316 before sliding lower on a “bearish” surprise in storage data. He also highlighted cold air drifting down from Western Canada as the main factor propping up prices in the short term; without that support, Rubin warned, “sub-$3.00 per million British thermal units may be in play.” Rigzone
Still, weather models can turn on a dime—gas traders know this all too well. Anyone betting big on one forecast has paid for it. If a cold snap hits late in the month, or freeze-offs return and slow production, the supply picture gets tight quickly, particularly since exports remain a significant part of U.S. demand.
Traders are eyeing two things: Thursday’s storage numbers and a fresh round of temperature forecasts for late February and early March. Those will likely set the tone for whether $3 sticks or gives way.
