Intraday volatility in oil at support after Saudi comments

Crude Oil, Weekly

San Francisco Fed president Williams: said over the weekend that there is a “strong case” for a December rate hike. This sparked a dollar rally and some commodity volatility this morning. Today the Washington Post said that Saudi Arabia’s government is willing to cooperate with other producers to maintain stable prices. Therefore it’s not surprising that Nymex crude has had a mixed trading day today. Crude oil had a gap opening higher (we’ve been talking about Crude being at support!) in start of the futures trading.  Then oil slid lower before bouncing higher again. Commodity currencies underperformed, with USDCAD whipsawing up and down with the oil market.

In the weekly picture crude oil has been forming a vast bullish wedge formation. This price action is taking place near multi-year low that took place in 2009. Current price action is taking place at lower Bollinger Bands and near a 37.75 support from August this year. Stochastics are oversold and the last week’s bar was a narrow range candle with open and closing prices near each other. Such candles signal that supply and demand are in a relative balance. Nearest resistance level is at 42.58 while the nearest support level is at 37.75.



Crude Oil, Daily

In the latest Live Analysis Webinar we focused on the fact that Crude oil was trading at a pivotal support (37.75 – 40.50) while the USDCAD has been trading near this year’s highs. This combination suggests that both markets are near potential turning points. Today’s opening gap to the upside together with OPEC’s comments supports the view while the bullish pin bar (a hammer) from Friday suggests the same. Stochastics, RSI and Money Flow Index are edging up from oversold levels. Today’s price advance was turned as the pivotal resistance at 42.58 invited sellers to push the price down yet again. Support area: is a pivotal candle support at 37.75 – 40.51 while resistance levels are at 42.58, 45.90 and 48.32.



Crude Oil, 240 min

The 42.65 proved to be too much for the oil bulls to handle and today’s rally was quickly rejected. The last 4h candle from Friday is bullish but today’s failure to challenge the resistance takes some of its edge away. Price is not trending lower anymore in this timeframe and there is some attempt to change direction from the support.

Conclusion

In the latest Live Analysis Webinar we identified the 37.75 to 40.50 area as potential support and 42.60 as a resistance. These S&R areas have proven to be highly valuable as Crude Oil has been bouncing between the levels. This is a good example of how fundamental information impacts the market and the technical levels as still very valid and valuable. The increased volatility with an opening gap suggest that market participants put two and two together and are looking for a turnaround in oil. However, the sideways move in the weekly chart is fairly near and could cause sideways action between it and the below support range. Saudi comments suggest oil market is near levels where the turnaround can actually take place.