NATGAS / USD · energy
Natural gas trading platform: the complete guide to trading the NATGAS CFD
The natural gas CFD (NATGAS) is a financial contract that lets you speculate on the price of natural gas, rising or falling, without holding the physical commodity. At RaiseFX, a broker regulated by the FSCA (FSP 50506), you open your position directly on NATGAS/USD from the MetaTrader 5 platform, on the MetaTrader 5 platform. Risk warning: CFDs are complex financial instruments that carry a high risk of rapid loss of capital due to leverage; a significant proportion of retail accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. This information is provided for educational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. NATGAS is available from MetaTrader 5 on a computer or from the mobile app. The trading conditions and the associated risks are set out in RaiseFX's documentation.
Check our live spreads on the energy markets
Dated fact — in August 2026, the spot price of Henry Hub, the benchmark of the US natural gas market, stood at $2.78 per MMBtu, according to the EIA (Short-Term Energy Outlook, January 2026). This reference point directly drives the NATGAS/USD quote that you follow on your MetaTrader 5 chart.
| Asset | Symbol | Live average spread | Trade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural Gas | NATGAS |  Ultra-serré | Trade natural gas |
| US Oil | WTI | Ultra-serré | Trade oil |
| UK Oil | BRENT | Compétitif | See Brent spreads |
How to trade the natural gas CFD (NATGAS) in 3 steps?
Opening a position on the natural gas CFD takes three steps at RaiseFX. First create your trading account online: the process is entirely digital, but remains subject to KYC rules, which will ask you to provide a valid identity document before any withdrawal.
Once your account is validated, fund it by bank card, transfer, e-wallet or cryptocurrency deposit (Bitcoin, USDT): the deposit procedures are shown when you open the account. You can also test your strategy on a demo account before committing real money.
Then comes execution: log in to MetaTrader 5, search for the symbol “NATGAS” in the energy category, open the chart, choose your lot size and your Stop Loss and Take Profit levels, then place your order. As on our oil trading platform, energy CFDs carry risks linked to market volatility.
What are the trading hours of the natural gas market?
NATGAS trades almost 24 hours a day, from Sunday evening to Friday evening, with a liquidity peak at the opening of the NYMEX US session. Every Thursday, the EIA publishes its weekly report on gas reserves in the United States: this release can cause market moves, which some traders of this instrument follow.
What is the price of natural gas today? Live NATGAS/USD price and quote
The price of natural gas is quoted in US dollars per MMBtu on the NYMEX, with the Henry Hub, in Louisiana, as the global reference point. On RaiseFX, the NATGAS/USD quote follows this price live, minute by minute, with a chart viewable from the one-minute view to the monthly view.
On MetaTrader 5, the NATGAS/USD chart comes with a technical indicator summary: moving averages, RSI, MACD and pivot point give you an overview of the technical indicators.
| Instrument | Physical ownership | Leverage | Trader profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFD | No | Yes, subject to the applicable conditions | Active trading, day trading |
| Gas stocks | Yes (share of the company) | No (excluding margin on a securities account) | Medium/long-term investing |
| ETF | Yes (share of the fund) | No | Diversification, passive portfolio |
| Futures | No (delivery possible at expiry) | Yes, via margin call | Professionals, large capital |
What is the Henry Hub, the benchmark indicator of the gas price?
The Henry Hub is the main physical distribution and trading center located in Louisiana (United States), connecting multiple pipelines. Because of its size and liquidity, its price serves as the official benchmark for creating the NATGAS futures quotes you follow daily.
Understanding natural gas (NATGAS) as an energy commodity
Gas is not only an essential resource for residential heating or electricity generation: it is above all a complex financial product that is traded on a global scale. Unlike crude oil, whose market is highly globalized, the price of natural gas has long been strongly influenced by geographic factors and rigid transport infrastructure: transcontinental pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals.
The quantity of gas is measured in MMBtu (Millions of British Thermal Units). Considered significantly less polluting than coal or heavy oil, natural gas remains the quintessential fuel of the energy transition, even though its combustion continues to produce a greenhouse effect that should not be ignored.
Conventional gas and shale gas: what is the difference for global production?
The conventional gas is extracted from classic porous reservoirs, such as the former Groningen field in the Netherlands, whose production was drastically reduced for seismic reasons — a factor in the structural decline of European production (Energy Institute, Statistical Review of World Energy, 2025).
The shale gas, for its part, is trapped in low-permeability rocks and became exploitable only with the spread of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in the United States, in the Marcellus and Permian fields: this technique explains most of the growth in US production over the past fifteen years.
What are the main natural gas producing countries in the world?
The global production of natural gas remains concentrated in a small number of countries. According to the EIA, US production averaged 106 billion cubic feet per day in the first half of 2025, about 75% more than Russia, the world's second producer (EIA, Today in Energy, 7 November 2025).
Over the whole of 2025, the United States produced 1,116 billion m³ of natural gas, a volume that exceeds the combined production of China, Canada and Qatar (Visual Capitalist, based on Energy Institute data, July 2026).
| Rank | Country | Production (2025) | What explains the rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 1,116 billion m³ | Shale gas; world's first-ranked producer since 2009 |
| 2 | Russia | ≈ half of the US volume (estimate based on the cited source) | Second producer despite the decline in its exports to Europe |
| 3 | Iran | 280 billion m³ | Relies on the giant offshore South Pars field |
| 4-5 | China, Canada | Growing | Close behind the podium, with no detailed figure in the cited source |
These five countries together supply more than half of the natural gas consumed in the world. The proven reserves are even more concentrated: Russia, Iran and Qatar alone hold more than half of the world's natural gas reserves (Energy Institute, Statistical Review of World Energy, 2025).
What are the natural gas market trends and how can they be analyzed?
Three groups of factors move the price of natural gas: supply (production capacity of the United States, Russia, Qatar and Norway), demand, highly cyclical between heating in winter and air conditioning in summer, and the impact of the US dollar, since gas is traded in USD and reacts to the Fed's interest rate policy.
On the technical side, identify the dominant trend using moving averages, mark your support and resistance levels, and monitor the economic calendar to anticipate releases likely to move the market. On the fundamental side, the EIA's weekly report remains the reference tool: lower-than-expected reserves are interpreted as a sign of supply tightness, and the price reacts almost instantly.
Since 2022, European energy security has largely been reshaped around liquefied natural gas imported by sea, notably from the United States, while imports of Russian gas by pipeline have fallen sharply. This underlying trend, which also affects the electricity mix in France and its European neighbors, remains a factor to watch for anyone analyzing the gas market over several months.
Many traders who follow natural gas also diversify their exposure across other commodities: trade cocoa or trade coffee for tropical agriculture, trade wheat for cereals, trade uranium for nuclear energy, or even trade gold on gold, in addition to copper, often regarded as a leading indicator of global industrial activity.
This diversification across energy, metals and agricultural commodities remains a common strategy among active traders, provided you maintain a consistent risk management across the entire portfolio and never accumulate positions whose total margin would exceed your risk tolerance.
Complete FAQ: everything about trading natural gas CFDs (NATGAS)
The price of natural gas can be read live on the NATGAS/USD quote on your platform, indexed to the Henry Hub and NYMEX futures; in August 2026, the Henry Hub stood at around $2.78 per MMBtu (source: EIA).
CFDs are leveraged products: losses can exceed the initial deposit in the absence of a Stop Loss, and a significant proportion of retail accounts lose money when trading these instruments. Natural gas also exposes you to price gaps at weekly session openings.
The natural gas market follows a pronounced seasonal cycle (rise in winter, trough in summer), amplified by the EIA's weekly releases and by growing demand for LNG exports to Europe and Asia.
Natural gas is extracted from conventional or shale deposits, transported by pipeline or liquefied to be shipped by sea (LNG), then used for residential heating, electricity generation and industry.
The United States, Russia, Iran, China and Canada account for most of the world's natural gas production, with the United States alone producing more than Russia, Iran and Canada combined.
Combine technical analysis (moving averages, supports and resistances, indicator summary on your chart) and fundamental analysis (economic calendar, the EIA's weekly report, demand seasonality) to build your strategy.
The main reason is the absence of a predefined strategy, coupled with financial exposure that is too high relative to the real size of the account. The volatility inherent to gas can easily trigger margin calls and wipe out an undercapitalized account that is not protected by a strict stop-loss order.
RaiseFX is regulated by the FSCA in South Africa (FSP 50506).
It is sometimes described as an “energy bridge”. The combustion of natural gas emits carbon dioxide, like that of other fossil fuels. Its environmental impact depends in particular on its production and transport.
RaiseFX, your partner for conquering the NATGAS market
By choosing RaiseFX, you opt for far more than a simple trading platform: an ecosystem designed for performance, from the fast execution of your orders to a wide range of assets (energy, precious metals, Forex, crypto). Never forget that trading derivatives carries a high risk: test your strategy on a free demo account before committing your capital.