Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) finished off Tuesday with a gain of 6.8%, polishing off a nearly 20% run for CHK stock since March 25.

Not bad work at all, considering that’s when the oil and natural gas E&P company was busy scrawling out a death cross.

For the uninitiated, the death cross is formed when the intermediate-term 50-day moving average crosses below its long-term 200-day MA. This trend tends to be an omen of a coming bear market, whether in a stock or a whole market index, and technically speaking, it also converts the 200-day moving average into overhead resistance.

Chesapeake longs, then, have had plenty of reason to celebrate. Since forming the death cross, CHK stock pushed through its 20-day moving average, then climbed to its 50-day before ultimately pushing through the 200-day MA in Tuesday’s trade.

There are a few catalysts, but the two that stand out are climbing oil prices, as well as high short interest.

Since March 25, West Texas Intermediate oil prices have climbed nearly 7% after bottoming under $48 per share, and natural gas has continued a run since late Feburary, including a 6%-plus move higher over the past two weeks.

In the meanwhile, a crowded bear horde has amassed a roughly 34% position in Chesapeake’s float, and many of those bears have been getting squeezed as CHK stock fires higher.

Also providing a little encouragement: insider buying. Directors Thomas Ryan and Archie Dunham dug into some shares late last month, helping nudge the bulls to action.

Chesapeake Energy still is in difficult financial straits; the company continued to bleed red ink in its latest earnings report, recording a net loss of $575 million on revenues that were halved year-over-year to just over $2 billion. But the company is very slowly trying to cut into its debts and shore up the remainder of its balance sheet.

But in the short-term, the bulls appear to have the upper hand.

As of this writing, Robert Martin did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.