Open interest in gold futures markets dropped for the third straight session, this time by just 84 contracts on Monday according to preliminary readings from CME Group. Volume followed suit and shrank by around 53.5K contracts, reversing the previous daily build.

Gold: Interim hurdle emerges around $1930

Gold prices started the week on a positive foot and extended the recent breakout of the $1900 mark per troy ounce. The uptick was on the back of shrinking open interest and volume and signals that the ongoing bounce could be running out of steam in the near term. In the meantime, the 55-day SMA at $1931 is expected to offer provisional resistance in the very near term.