- WTI witnessed some selling for the fifth consecutive session on Thursday.
- Descending channel formation supports prospects for further weakness.
- Mixed technical indicators warrant caution for aggressive bearish traders.
WTI crude oil edged lower for the fifth consecutive session on Thursday and was last seen hovering near the lower boundary of its weekly trading range, around the $64.00/barrel mark.
The commodity was weighed down by Wednesday's EIA report, which showed a build in US crude inventories for the fourth straight week. This comes on the back of worries about slowing fuel demand amid a spike in newly reported cases and the suspension of coronavirus vaccine rollouts in Europe.
Looking at the technical picture, oil prices have been trending lower along a downward sloping channel since the beginning of this week. Given the overnight rejection near the trend-channel hurdle, which coincides with 100-hour SMA, the near-term bias seems tilted in favour of bearish traders.
The bearish outlook is reinforced by the fact that technical indicators on hourly charts have been gained negative momentum. That said, oscillators on the daily chart are still holding in the bullish territory and support prospects for the emergence of some dip-buying at lower levels.
Hence, any subsequent fall is more likely to find decent support near the $63.50-40 horizontal level. This also marks the lower boundary of the mentioned channel, which if broken decisively will be seen as a fresh trigger for bearish traders and set the stage for additional weakness.
Oil prices might then turn vulnerable to break below the $63.00 level and extend the recent pullback from the $68.00 mark, or over one-year tops touched earlier this month. The next relevant bearish target is pegged near the $62.00 mark with some intermediate support around the $62.40 area.
On the upside, any meaningful positive move now seems to confront stiff resistance and seen as a selling opportunity near daily swing highs, around the $64.70 region. This should cap the upside near the trend-channel/100-hour SMA confluence hurdle, just ahead of the $65.00 psychological mark.
WTI 1-hourly chart
Technical levels to watch
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