Crude oil price, news and analysis:
- News of a sharp fall in inventories of US crude oil is giving the crude price a boost.
- That advance may continue as concerns mount about sanctions on Iran.
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US crude oil inventories drop
The rally in the US crude oil price may continue short term after news that US crude stockpiles fell by 5.2 million barrels in the week to August 17, well above the 1.5 million draw predicted by analysts. The data from the American Petroleum Institute suggest that the official numbers from the US Energy Information Administration, due today, could show a larger decrease than the 2.0 million drop previously forecast.
In addition, worries are mounting about a potential shortfall of Iranian oil from November due to US sanctions.
US Crude Oil Price Chart, Daily Timeframe (April 1 – August 22, 2018)
Technical picture for US crude
As the chart above shows, the US crude oil price has already rallied from a recent low of $63.97 per barrel on August 15 to its current level around $66.27 and that bounce could extend to the 20-day moving average at $66.74 and perhaps to trendline resistance at $67.66.
To the downside, principal support lies at that $63.97 low.
Trader positioning in US crude
Turning to sentiment, retail trader data show 69.2% of traders are net-long, with the ratio of traders long to short at 2.25 to 1. In fact, traders have remained net-long since July 11, when US crude traded near $71.52; the price has moved 7.7% lower since then. The number of traders net-long is 1.4% lower than yesterday and 6.3% higher from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 3.2% higher than yesterday and 5.8% higher from last week.
At DailyFX, we typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests US crude prices may continue to fall. Positioning is less net-long than yesterday but more net-long than last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed US crude trading bias.
Resources to help you trade the forex markets
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--- Written by Martin Essex, Analyst and Editor
Feel free to contact me via the comments section below, via email at martin.essex@ig.com or on Twitter @MartinSEssex
