Crude Oil Technical Forecast: Bearish
- Crude oil prices struggled sustaining upside momentum this past week
- Technical signals on the daily, 4-hour chart hinting at weakness ahead
- IG Client Sentiment offering stronger bearish crude oil contrarian bias
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Crude Oil Technical Outlook
Crude oil prices struggled to sustain upside momentum this past week as US recession fears plagued risk trends and the sentiment-linked commodity. From a technical standpoint, this falls in line with oil’s dominant downtrend since the middle of April when the commodity fell through rising support from the end of last year.
Looking at the oil daily chart, gains during the front-end of the past 5 trading days were tamed by a falling channel of resistance going back to the middle of July (parallel red lines below). Horizontal resistance also held at 57.38, former highs from February. This left crude oil sitting just above the lower boundary of psychological support which is a range between 54.55 and 55.41.
If descending resistance continues to define near-term price action in the commodity, we may see crude oil extend weakness down the road. Prices may eventually end up at the next critical psychological area between 50.41 and 52.08. This range held as support on multiple occasions such as in June and back in January. Meanwhile, near-term technical signals also hint towards downtrend resumption.
Crude Oil Daily Chart
Crude Oil Chart Created in TradingView
Zooming in on the crude oil 4-hour chart below, rising support from August 7 was taken out this past week. As such, a close under 54.55 may pave the way for continued declines. Otherwise, the upside challenge for the commodity is taking out descending resistance from the middle of July which would expose the July 31 high at 58.79 down the road.
For more updates on crude oil, including fundamental developments, feel free to follow me on Twitter here @ddubrovskyFX.
Crude Oil 4-Hour Chart
Crude Oil Chart Created in TradingView
Crude Oil Sentiment Outlook - Bearish
Meanwhile, IG Client Positioning is offering a stronger crude oil bearish contrarian trading bias. Traders are further net long on August 16 than compared to the prior day. To learn more about how you can use this in our own trading strategy, join me every week on Wednesday’s at 00:00 GMT as I uncover what market positioning has to say about the prevailing trends in financial markets.
Crude Oil IG Client Positioning
FX Trading Resources
- Having trouble with your strategy? Here’s the #1 mistake that traders make
- See how crude oil is viewed by the trading community at the DailyFX Sentiment Page
- Just getting started? See our beginners’ guide for FX traders
--- Written by Daniel Dubrovsky, Currency Analyst for DailyFX.com
To contact Daniel, use the comments section below or @ddubrovskyFX on Twitter
