The New York Board of Trade's key December cotton contract surged 1.20 cents to end at 55.23 cents a lb, dealing from 54.10 to 55.34 cents. March rose 1.03 to 57.19 cents and the back months advanced 0.80 to 1.00 cent.
Mike Stevens, an analyst for brokers SFS Futures in Mandeville, Louisiana, said the close above 55.10 cents for December delivery meant the contract may now mount a probe toward a technical target running from 55.75 to 55.90 cents.
"We could try (to fill) that gap," he said, adding fiber contracts put in an impressive performance when most players were anticipating it would move in a tight band.
Fundamentally, the market is monitoring the harvest of the US cotton crop and look at the strength of demand for cotton from countries like China, the world's biggest consumer of the stringy fiber.
Early trade buying provided a floor for cotton before speculative and fund accounts stepped up to bid the market higher, dealers said.
Trade and options-related sales at the highs sought to cap the advance, but the speculative funds steadily purchased futures going into the close, they said.
"The funds just bought it going into the close so we may see some follow-through tomorrow," one explained.
Market participants are also keeping tabs on the run-up to farm trade talks under the World Trade Organisation scheduled for Hong Kong and the chance it may fail if the European Union fails to present an improved proposal on cutting its steep farm tariffs.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp put resistance in December cotton at 55.35 and 56 cents, with support at 54.50 and 53.80 cents.
Floor dealers said estimated final volume amounted to 13,000 lots, up from Monday's tally of 9,157 lots. Open interest rose 441 lots to 121,425 contracts as of October 24.