The New York Board of Trade's key December cotton contract eased 0.46 cent to close at 54.03 cents a lb, dealing from 53.75 to 54.65 cents.
March shed 0.26 cent to 56.16 cents. Except for one contract, back months lost from 0.07 to 0.35 cent.
Frank Weathersby, an analyst for brokers Affinity Trading in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, said the benchmark December contract will likely probe support near 52 cents and then rebound to 55 cents, where it should stall anew.
He said the market needs news to provide the impetus for it to break out of its current range.
Fundamentally, the market is monitoring the ongoing harvest of the US cotton crop and what kind of demand develops from key countries like China, the world's biggest consumer of cotton.
Futures edged up to highs shortly after the opening, but came under steady pressure from small speculators, dealers said. Cotton then derived support from trade accounts in the market.
"The locals were just keeping the thing under the gun, but we're still in a band," one said.
The market took note of news that farm trade talks in the World Trade Organisation scheduled for Hong Kong this December may be scrapped unless the European Union fails to come up with an offer on cutting farm tariffs.
"Some American producers might want for that to happen because it would keep the status quo in place," a trading house analyst said.
Broker Flanagan Trading Corp sees resistance in the December cotton contract at 54.50 and 55.35 cents, with support at 53.80 and 53.05 cents.
Floor dealers said estimated final volume was 10,000 lots, against the prior tally of 10,483 lots. Open interest in the cotton market rose 385 lots to 120,984 lots as of October 21.