Front contract depreciating more quickly during rollover p

[Chris16 0]

Hello.  I'm a relatively inexperienced trader who usually dabbles in NQ or ES contracts, but recently entered into some oil contracts (CL).  Just prior to the OPEC supply cut deal, I entered into some long contracts.  As prices declined, I decided to cancel stop loss orders and buy more.  Long story short, I currently have 14 contracts at average price of $24.91...and I've been seeing a lot of red each day since the day I entered into them.  I didn't consider the deleterious effects of a steep contango due to exceptionally high storage costs....but know I'm a bit more aware.

I noticed when it was time to roll over the contracts (especially on Thursday, April 16th and on Friday, April 17th - which is when I rolled things over), the front end contract was down WAY more than the June and July contracts were.  It didn't feel good to sell assets that had depreciated much more than the assets that I was just about to buy.  I ended up rolling 10 contracts to June and 4 contracts to July.

Question:  Do the front end contracts away underperform during late stages of the rollover period due to everyone exiting them at the same time (and conversely, does the subsequent month's contract show relative strength due to everyone moving into it at the same time)?  If so, is there a "best time" to rollover contracts to avoid this problem?  Perhaps I should have done it earlier.  Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

-Chris