(MENAFN- DailyFX) Crude Oil Price Forecast Talking Points:
- The 2019 rally in WTI Crude Oil continued this week as prices re-tested the $60 level on the chart around the Wednesday FOMC rate decision . Prices put in a day of indecision on Thursday followed by a sell-off on Friday, making for an evening star formation on the Daily chart, which will generally be approaches in a bearish manner.
- The bigger question is whether that evening star formation may be showing pullback potential or whether a larger reversal may be in the works. If risk aversion does continue to show, as was seen in early-Friday trade , the probability of a deeper reversal becomes stronger. But, at this early stage, there is little evidence to support that thesis as Oil prices remain well-elevated from potential areas of support around $57.25-$57.50 ( which was resistance in early-March ) and $54.50-$55.50. Until those supports are broken, the bullish 2019 trend can remain as workable.
Do you want to see how retail traders are currently positioned? Check out our IG Client Sentiment Indicator .
Technical Forecast for USOil: Bullish
The bullish 2019 trend in Oil ran into resistance this week, with prices temporarily pushing over the $60-level before sellers made a showing. And while 2019 trade has been considerably more upbeat and optimistic than the sell-off from Q4, prices failing to trade through a key area of resistance on the chart brings to question the near-term viability of bullish continuation in Oil prices as the final week of Q1 approaches.
Crude Oil Monthly Price Chart Chart prepared by James Stanley
Crude Oil Daily:
This week saw crude prices rally through the FOMC rate decision and into Thursday trade, at which point sellers showed-up to push prices back-below the $60 level. The sell-off continued through a key Fibonacci level on the chart at 59.64. The three-day candle formation has built into an evening star pattern, which involves an initial day of strength running into a day of indecision; followed by a sell-off that takes-out at least half of the gains from day one.
This keeps the door open for a short-term move of weakness down to the confluent Fibonacci zone that runs from 57.25-57.50, in which exists 38.2% retracements from both 2014-2016 and 2016-2018 major moves. This would be categorized as a pullback in the longer-term trend that's held so far through 2019; and that theme can remain workable as long as prices trade above the March swing-low around $54.50.
Crude Oil Daily Price Chart Chart prepared by James Stanley
Timing Exposure in WTI Crude Oil
Given the culmination of the above factors: A strong bullish trend that's held for the past few months running into a very obvious level of resistance at the psychological $60 handle, at which point a bearish formation had printed; and traders looking to onload bullish exposure may want to wait for a more optimal backdrop before looking to take on risk.
If the current retracement can push prices down to find support at the prior area of resistance , right around that confluent Fibonacci area discussed above, bullish trend strategies can become attractive. If that zone is unable to hold the lows, there's another block of potential support around the $54.50-$55.50 area. If this zone comes into play, meaning there was a failure from buyers to hold support around $57.25, traders would likely want to utilize a bit of patience in waiting for support to actually build before looking to take on long exposure. Once that criteria is satisfied, the door can soon re-open for bullish strategies, targeting a resistance re-test of the $57.27 area on the chart.
Crude Oil Four-Hour Price Chart Chart prepared by James Stanley
To read more:
Are you looking for longer-term analysis on the U.S. Dollar? Our DailyFX Forecasts for Q4 have a section for each major currency, and we also offer a plethora of resources on USD -pairs such as EUR/USD , GBP/USD , USD/JPY , AUD/USD . Traders can also stay up with near-term positioning via our IG Client Sentiment Indicator .
Forex Trading Resources
DailyFX offers an abundance of tools, indicators and resources to help traders. For those looking for trading ideas, our IG Client Sentiment shows the positioning of retail traders with actual live trades and positions. Our trading guides bring our DailyFX Quarterly Forecasts and our Top Trading Opportunities; and our real-time news feed has intra-day interactions from the DailyFX team. And if you're looking for real-time analysis, our DailyFX Webinars offer numerous sessions each week in which you can see how and why we're looking at what we're looking at.
If you're looking for educational information, our New to FX guide is there to help new(er) traders while our Traits of Successful Traders research is built to help sharpen the skill set by focusing on risk and trade management.
--- Written by James Stanley, Strategist for DailyFX.com
Contact and follow James on Twitter: @JStanleyFX
Other Weekly Technical Forecasts: Australian Dollar Forecast AUD/USD Rebound Stalls Post-Fed
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