WTI giving back some of Thursday's gains, tests below $88.00

Crude Oil prices are seeing a tentative step back after tipping into a 13-day high early on Friday.
WTI tested back into the $88.00 handle, but plenty of bidding strength remains as markets weigh geopolitical concerns.
Bidding interest remains high in Crude Oil, and downside moves will face continued upside pressure.

Joshua Gibson FXStreet

West Texas Intermediary (WTI) Crude Oil prices are on the lower side for Friday, albeit slightly as ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Gaza Strip threaten to spill over and global production continues to flub barrel demand.

Thursday's run up the charts in spot Crude prices saw a mild extension into early Friday, sending WTI into $89.64 to retest its highest bids in almost three trading weeks before a relief pullback pinged just south of $88.00 per barrel.

Price action is now firming up in the midrange with Crude Oil bids testing back and forth near the $88.00 neighborhood as energies traders weigh their options heading into the weekend market close.

Geopolitical tensions between Israel and Hamas continue to weigh on oil markets as investors fret over a potential spillover that could destabilize the region near the Strait of Hormuz; while Israel and Palestine are not major players in Crude Oil markets, the nearby Strait of Hormuz is a key chokepoint for global oil supply, seeing a fifth of all oil supply pass through its waters.

It was revealed this week that the US is set to lift sanctions on Venezuelan crude oil exports in a bid to prop up woefully under-supplied global oil markets, which took WTI lower in the mid-week, but Venezuelan oil producers remain drastically below capacity, and it will take some time for Venezuelan barrels to begin eating away at undersupply.

WTI Technical Outlook

Crude Oil has continued a healthy rebound from October's early dip into $80.63, with WTI bids still up around 9% from the month's early swing low, and a bullish continuation will pave the way for a run at September's high bids near $94.00.

The downside is getting capped off by the 50-day Simple Moving Average, currently pushing higher from just south of $86.00, and daily candlesticks have so far been unwilling to push too far past the technical barrier, with the 200-day SMA rolling over into a bullish stance from $78.00

WTI Daily Chart

WTI Technical Levels

WTI US OIL

Overview
Today last price	88.51
Today Daily Change	-0.53
Today Daily Change %	-0.60
Today daily open	89.04

Trends
Daily SMA20	86.76
Daily SMA50	85.27
Daily SMA100	79.89
Daily SMA200	77.83

Levels
Previous Daily High	89.39
Previous Daily Low	85.39
Previous Weekly High	86.63
Previous Weekly Low	81.45
Previous Monthly High	93.98
Previous Monthly Low	83.09
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	87.86
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	86.92
Daily Pivot Point S1	86.49
Daily Pivot Point S2	83.94
Daily Pivot Point S3	82.48
Daily Pivot Point R1	90.49
Daily Pivot Point R2	91.94
Daily Pivot Point R3	94.5

Author

Joshua Gibson

FXStreet

Joshua joins the FXStreet team as an Economics and Finance double major from Vancouver Island University with twelve years' experience as an independent trader focusing on technical analysis.

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Why is Crude Oil priced for a reopening the ships haven't made?

Fourteen vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. Before the war, the count ran near 120 a day. In the sessions since the waterway was publicly declared open, Brent has drifted back to $87 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to $81, both a little lower again on Wednesday, with daily momentum on each unwound from the top of its range in late July to the low twenties now.