WTI oil futures have stretched to a 31½-month high of 69.38 after closing successfully above the 68.00 level, and are now quickly approaching a fortified buffer zone shaped between the 70.00 and 71.00 round numbers. The advancing simple moving averages (SMAs) are defending the bullish structure, while the slight upturn in the 50-day SMA is reflecting a pickup in near-term sentiment.
The Ichimoku lines and the short-term oscillators are indicating growing positive drive. The MACD is strengthening above its red trigger line in the positive region, while the RSI is nearing the 70 level. The stochastic %K line has improved, rising back into the overbought territory, endorsing additional buoyancy in the commodity’s price.
To the upside, buyers may struggle to conquer the resistance section formed between the 70.00 and 71.00 borders. Buyers may need to assemble profound buying interest to conquer this obstruction, which also happens to be reinforced by the 123.6% Fibonacci extension of the correction from 67.96 until 57.25. However, triumphing over this boundary, the price may then shoot for the resistance band of 72.41-73.06 before buyers are encouraged to challenge the 74.00 handle.
If sellers resurface, initial support could transpire from the nearby 66.42-67.96 zone. Should the price retreat below the Ichimoku lines, next downside limitations could arise in the vicinity between the 50- and 100-day SMAs from 63.54 until 61.40 respectively. Diving beneath this region could then sink the price towards the 57.25-58.14 support foundation.
Summarizing, WTI futures are sustaining a strong bullish bearing above the SMAs. However, a deeper retracement below the Ichimoku cloud and the latest trough of 61.54 could spark worries of negative tendencies gaining some pace.
