WTI Price Analysis: 100-SMA probes Oil bears around $79.00

WTI crude oil remains on the back foot for the second consecutive day after reversing from a one-week high the previous day, down 0.30% intraday near $79.30 heading into Monday’s European session.

In doing so, the black gold pokes the 100-bar Simple Moving Average (SMA), around $79.20 by the press time.

The energy benchmark’s weakness could be linked to the quote’s early Asian session failure to cross the support-turned-resistance from January 12. Adding strength to the bearish bias could be the downbeat MACD signals, as well as descending RSI (14) line.

It’s worth noting, however, that the downside break of the 100-SMA level of $79.20 may have a tough time in pleasing the Oil bears as the $79.00 threshold and the 200-SMA, close to $78.15, could challenge the quote’s further downside.

In a case where the WTI drops below $78.15, a slump toward the early-month swing high near $76.90 can’t be ruled out.

Alternatively, recovery moves need to cross the previous support line surrounding $80.60 to convince Oil buyers.

Even so, multiple tops around $82.65-70 appear the key hurdle for the WTI bulls to cross to convince markets.

Overall, WTI crude oil is likely to decline further but the downside room appears limited.

WTI: Four-hour chart

Trend: Limited downside expected