West Texas Intermediate crude futures for May delivery pared losses to trade in positive territory on Tuesday, one day after plunging below zero for the first time in history. The contract expires Tuesday, which means that thin trading volume has contributed to the wild price action.

The massive selling gripping the oil market is now spreading to more futures contracts, worrying investors about the deep economic damage being done by the coronavirus shutdowns.

The contract for June delivery, which is the more actively traded contract and therefore a better indication of how Wall Street views the price of oil, slipped 43.37% to settle at $11.57 per barrel. Earlier it fell more than 60% to trade under $7 per barrel. The contract for July delivery fell roughly 31% to $18.04.

The May contract settled at $10.01 per barrel after trading in negative territory earlier in the session, which means sellers would effectively pay buyers to take the oil off their hands. On Monday it fell below zero for the first time in history. However, as contracts approach expiration, trading volume is typically thin.

The front part of the oil futures 'curve,' which is the May contract that expires Tuesday, was hit the hardest since it applies to fuel that's set to be delivered while most of the country remains on lockdown thanks to the coronavirus. The only buyers of oil futures for that contract are entities that want to physically take the delivery like a refinery or an airline. But demand has dropped and storage tanks are filled, so they don't need it.

Futures contracts trade by month with expiration dates. Toward the end of their expiration, speculators usually trade out of the contract and then buyers who will accept physical delivery of the commodity remain.

Meanwhile, in another bearish sign, international benchmark Brent crude fell 24.4% to settle at $19.33 per barrel. Earlier in the session Brent fell to $18.10, its lowest level since Dec. 2001, before paring some of those losses.

"Oil futures continue to defy gravity," Louise Dickson, Rystad Energy's oil markets analyst, told CNBC in an email. "This moment is of course historical and could not better illustrate the price-utopia that the market has been in since March, when the full scale of the oversupply problem started to become evident but the market remained oblivious," she added.