Crude Oil Eating Up Time - Plate almost emptyPrice bounced many times at the Green Support-Zone. It's the same level where the Huge Pendulums Fork Center-Line is (white-dashed).
Next, we have the Yellow Fork.
Price traded outside the L-MLH, bounced a couple times at the Support-Zone and eat up time.
But now, I think the "Plate" is almost empty.
Why? Price arrived at a decision point, a confluence point. This confluence point is where the Warning-Line and Price intersect.
To me, a Long Trade is more likely than a Short.
- world wide tensions
- so many bounces at the Support-Zone, they won't let price go down much
- price has not re-tested the L-MLH of the Yellow Pitchfork
As this is a very long term play, it's obvious that this Chart/Idea would serve to build a position, rather than using it as a simple trade.
CL
Crude Oil Prices Fall Amid Economic and Geopolitical ShiftsSince the beginning of October, crude oil prices have been on a downward trend, dropping from $77 to $70 in less than three months. This decline can be attributed to several geopolitical and economic factors. During this period, global economic growth showed signs of slowing, raising concerns about future oil demand. Additionally, geopolitical tensions in major oil-producing regions eased, leading to a more stable supply outlook. These combined factors have exerted downward pressure on crude oil prices.
USOUSD (OIL), key support remains in play Thanks for checking our latest update. Today we are looking at oil on its daily chart.
The key questions we are asking today from a technical perspective are: Will we see key support continue to hold, and will the rough looking ending diagonal pattern confirm, setting off a new rally? Or could sellers finally break the discussed key support area, setting off a new leg lower?
Key support: $67 - $66.50.
As always, traders must remain vigilant and stay abreast of the latest updates from OPEC and geopolitical influences, as these factors can significantly impact the market.
Good trading from Eightcap.
Tracking Inflation with this Ratio - Crude Oil vs Gold RatioThe Fed is using this Crude Oil vs Gold ratio in tracking inflation.
The one in white is the inflation and the one in yellow is the Crude Oil vs Gold ratio.
We saw that when inflation peaked at 9% in June 2022, so did this ratio.
Although we recently saw a cut in interest rates, the yields are now moving higher, and gold has maintained its high point.
This makes us wonder: will inflation move toward the 2% target, or is it still at risk of rising further?
Micro WTI Crude Oil Futures & Options
Ticker: MCL
Minimum fluctuation:
0.01 per barrel = $1.00
Disclaimer:
• What presented here is not a recommendation, please consult your licensed broker.
• Our mission is to create lateral thinking skills for every investor and trader, knowing when to take a calculated risk with market uncertainty and a bolder risk when opportunity arises.
CME Real-time Market Data help identify trading set-ups in real-time and express my market views. If you have futures in your trading portfolio, you can check out on CME Group data plans available that suit your trading needs www.tradingview.com
Crude oil saved by the 200-day MA (for now)A combination of factors saw crude oil snap its 5-day winning streak on Tuesday. China's equity markets plunged at double-digit levels when traders realised no new stimulus from China was to be unveiled after golden weak. US production forecasts were lowered by the EIA and concerns over the Middle East receded somewhat.
An elongated bearish engulfing / outside day formed after its daily high met resistance at the September 2023 trendline. Yet the 200-day MA came to the rescue. For now at least.
Given the 4-hour bullish hammer at the 200-day MA and weekly R1 pivot, alongside a heavily oversold RSI (2) on that timeframe, I suspect a cheeky bounce could be in order. Bulls could cautiously seek dips for a move to $75 or $76.
Yet the magnitude of Tuesday's selloff suggests bears may be lurking at higher prices to re-enter upon any such bounce. Bears could wait to fade into such levels in anticipation of a return to the $70, near a high-volume node (HVN) and 61.8% Fibonacci level.
MS
COT Strategy - Crude Oil LongsDISCLAIMER: This is not trade advice. This is for educational purposes only to demonstrate how I am looking to participate in this market. There is significant risk involved in trading, do your own homework and due diligence.
COT Strategy
Crude Oil (CL)
My COT strategy has me on alert for long trades in CL again this week. To clarify, this was setup last week also, and triggered me long this week via a CCI divergence long trigger. Based on this weeks COT strategy analysis, I think this is a nice market for further upside and will look to enter again via 18MA & 10H8C MAC entry methods.
COT Commercial Index: Buy Signal.
Net Positioning: Max long of last 3 years - bullish.
Small Spec Index: Buy Signal.
Valuation: Undervalued vs Gold & Treasuries.
Front Month Premium Market.
True Seasonal up to Mid October.
Supplementary Indicators: Stochastic.
Remember, this is not a "Long Now" idea. These indicators are not timing tools. They simply tell us that this market could have a move of some significance to the upside, which we will participate in with a Daily long trigger.
Good luck & good trading.
Smart Money Positioned to LONG Crude Oil - COT StrategyDISCLAIMER: This is not trade advice. This is for educational purposes only to demonstrate how I am looking to participate in this market. There is significant risk involved in trading, do your own homework and due diligence.
COT Strategy
LONG
Crude Oil (CL)
My COT strategy has me on alert for long trades in CL if we get a confirmed bullish change of trend on the Daily timeframe.
COT Commercial Index: Buy Signal
OI Analysis: Generally last few weeks OI has drifted lower while CM's adding to longs - bullish. CM's approaching extreme long positioning, but not quite there yet.
True Seasonal: True seasonal to go up until mid October - bullish.
COT Small Spec Index: Buy Signal
Front Month Premium - Bullish
Supplementary Indicators: %R & Stochastic
Remember, this is not a "Long Now" idea. These indicators are not timing tools. They simply tell us that this market could have a move of some significance to the upside, which we will participate in with a confirmed Daily trend change to the upside.
Good luck & good trading.
How to Use Intermarket Analysis? - Crude Oil Potential DirectionAn example of Crude Oil and Palm Oil in my intermarket analysis to demonstrate how I identify potential upcoming trends and why I believe both are about to move.
To help narrow down potential opportunities in other markets, you can apply the techniques I am about to share.
Micro WTI Crude Oil Futures & Options
Ticker: MCL
Minimum fluctuation:
0.01 per barrel = $1.00
Disclaimer:
• What presented here is not a recommendation, please consult your licensed broker.
• Our mission is to create lateral thinking skills for every investor and trader, knowing when to take a calculated risk with market uncertainty and a bolder risk when opportunity arises.
CME Real-time Market Data help identify trading set-ups in real-time and express my market views. If you have futures in your trading portfolio, you can check out on CME Group data plans available that suit your trading needs www.tradingview.com
Crude Oil Slips: Third Consecutive Week **"Crude Oil Slips: Third Consecutive Week Of Losses Amid Mounting Bearish Pressure"** On Friday, August 30th, front-month crude futures sharply dropped before paring losses. OPEC+ is reportedly leaning toward an output increase in October. Our algorithm issued a daily chart sell alert on July 22, 2024, followed by a weekly chart sell alert on August 12. A break below the $69.28 price level on a weekly basis could potentially trigger a more significant decline, driving crude prices down to $60 or lower by early next year.
Managing Oil Price Uncertainty with Micro WTI StraddlesYou cannot predict the future, but you can prepare for it. This is even more true for crude oil prices. Forces driving and pulling back oil prices are in full play in parallel at the same time. Oil prices remain at the risk to both the upside and the downside concurrently.
Take this week as an example. WTI prices started with a rally extending a three-day uptrend of >7% following Fed’s hint at rate cuts plus heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. The rally reversed as tensions eased. Crude oil prices crashed 3.8% over Tuesday & Wednesday on fears of feeble demand.
RATE CUTS AND GEOPOLITICAL TENSIONS DRIVE OIL PRICES HIGHER
The US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has signalled that the time to pivot was about now when speaking at the Jackson Hole Symposium last week on 23/Aug. This boosted optimism for oil prices, fuelling a rally reversing a price slump caused by weak Chinese economic data and disappointing US payroll revisions.
Chair Powell’s remarks lifted market sentiment, leading to gains in oil prices and the dollar weakening. A feeble dollar makes oil cheaper for non US consumers and can help increase demand pushing up oil prices.
Source: CME FedWatch Tool
According to CME’s FedWatch tool , there is a 67.5% likelihood of a 25 basis points (“bps”) rate cut and a 32.5% chance of a 50 bps rate reduction at the September FOMC meeting.
Sadly, the tensions in the Middle East continue to prevail. Last weekend, Hezbollah launched rockets and drones into Israel, prompting a swift response from Israel's military, which deployed around 100 jets to prevent a larger attack.
Adding to these factors are disruptions in oil production in Libya and Colombia.
The easing of tensions between Hezbollah and Israel reduced supply fears, with some speculating that Iran might view Hezbollah's missile attacks as sufficient retaliation.
Despite easing tensions, supply concerns persist in Libya threatening to reduce oil production by 1.2m bpd.
WEAKENING DEMAND AND OVER PRODUCTION COULD PULL OIL PRICES BACK
Concerns over weak oil demand from China, a global economic slowdown on the horizon, and elevated Russian crude production is keeping oil prices under check.
Russia has exceeded its OPEC+ production targets since March, leading to excess supply that is undermining the impact of OPEC+ production cuts and keeping prices low.
Source: OPEC and IEA
On Wednesday, the EIA reported a decline of 846,000 barrels in US crude inventories for the week ending 23/Aug, falling short of analyst expectations of a 2.7 million barrel drawdown. The market response to this smaller-than-expected inventory decrease was muted.
Demand for crude and gasoline will soften as US summer driving season ends first week of September.
Expectations of weaker US gasoline demand and lower refining margins have led several refiners to scale down their operations reducing demand for crude.
The largest US refiner, Marathon Petroleum ( NYSE:MPC ), announced that it will reduce its refining capacity to 90% this quarter, the lowest for a Q3 since 2020. PBF Energy ( NYSE:PBF ) will lower its capacity utilization to a three-year low, and Phillips 66 ( NYSE:PSX ) will cut its capacity to a two-year low.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reduced their 2025 Brent crude forecast to USD 77/barrel and USD 75/barrel respectively. Reasons cited for reducing forecasts include weaker Chinese demand, higher inventories, oversupply from OPEC countries, and rising US shale production for the downward revision.
HYPOTHETICAL TRADE SETUP
Over the past two weeks, crude oil prices have been volatile for reasons mentioned above. Looking ahead, rate cuts in September, the ongoing crisis in Libya, and reduced US gasoline demand will fuel further uncertainty to oil prices in the near term.
This is evident from rising WTI crude oil implied volatility. Earlier on 05/Aug it slid from its YTD high of 44.7 but has started to pick up again.
Source: CME CVOL
Establishing a directional position amid such uncertain backdrop is rife with risks. Long straddles using Micro WTI Crude Oil Options offer an effective way to capitalize on rising volatility.
Straddles are designed to benefit from (a) significant price movements in the underlying asset regardless of the price move and (b) volatility spikes. Sharp oil price moves, and volatility spike are to be expected given the current context.
Straddles provides “unlimited” profit potential combined with limited downside risk. A straddle comprises of two trade legs, namely, a long ATM call option combined with a long ATM put option.
This paper posits a long straddle on CME Micro WTI options expiring on 17th September. Micro WTI options provide exposure to 100 barrels of WTI crude offering a smaller contract size and lower premium requirements.
Based on 30/August market prices, this hypothetical trade set-up uses CME Micro WTI Crude Oil options expiring on 17th September and involves (a) Buying a 76 ATM Call, and (b) Buying a 76 ATM Put.
The premiums for each leg and the corresponding option Greeks as shown QuikStrike Strategy Simulator are shown below for ease of reference.
The straddle requires USD 1.91 per barrel in premium for the long call and USD 1.8 per barrel for the long put. In aggregate the straddle would cost USD 3.71 a barrel. Each CME Micro WTI Crude Oil option comprises 100 barrels which translates to a premium of USD 371 per lot.
When Micro WTI Crude Oil futures trade past break-even points as shown in the chart, this straddle will deliver positive returns.
• Lower break-even point: 76 - 3.71 = 72.29
• Upper break-even point: 76 + 3.71 = 79.71
However, at expiry, if Micro WTI Crude Oil Futures prices settle between USD 72.29 and USD 79.71 a barrel, this straddle will incur a maximum loss of USD 3.71/barrel or USD 371/lot.
The straddle pay-off are summarized in the table below to augment the above chart, illustrating the potential P/L of this trade at a few settlement prices.
MARKET DATA
CME Real-time Market Data helps identify trading set-ups and express market views better. If you have futures in your trading portfolio, you can check out on CME Group data plans available that suit your trading needs tradingview.com/cme .
DISCLAIMER
This case study is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment recommendations or advice. Nor are they used to promote any specific products, or services.
Trading or investment ideas cited here are for illustration only, as an integral part of a case study to demonstrate the fundamental concepts in risk management or trading under the market scenarios being discussed. Please read the FULL DISCLAIMER the link to which is provided in our profile description.
GC GOLD Buy BOXBeen a while since posting my thoughts here, I have been working on something that is GOLD. Supply and Demand can often be overlooked. Trading can often be over complicated. Back up and study the basics. Supply and demand characteristics of the market are the most rudimentary but often the best way to creaete a system that brings forth consistent gains. How many traders are actually profitable. Find a system that works for you it could start with a simple supply and demand type strategy.
Here we have price reacted perfectly off of the supply zone, (Yes I took that short position from the top and have the screen shot to prove it just ask if you want to see it). Now will we enter a demand zone and reverse. My plan is to simply wait, I took my profits and now I just wait until my alerts are hit and my criteria is met to go the other direction.
What will you do? Leave it in the comments I am happy to be back posting and look forward to more!
CL Colgate-Palmolive Company Options Ahead of EarningsIf you haven`t bought CL before the breakout:
Now analyzing the options chain and the chart patterns of Options Ahead of Earnings prior to the earnings report this week,
I would consider purchasing the 100usd strike price Calls with
an expiration date of 2024-11-15,
for a premium of approximately $3.45.
If these options prove to be profitable prior to the earnings release, I would sell at least half of them.
$USO Oil targets hit. Sideways plus downside, maybe two weeks Breakout was a success and we saw $80s for a good moment there. Plenty of time to have taken any profit on any positions I had. The pullback in between also happened according to the bar chart. Let’s see if the rest of my pattern can make its way through into a plummet for late May.
CL Colgate-Palmolive Company Options Ahead of EarningsIf you haven`t bought the dip on CL:
Then analyzing the options chain and the chart patterns of CL Colgate-Palmolive Company prior to the earnings report this week,
I would consider purchasing the 90usd strike price Calls with
an expiration date of 2024-4-26,
for a premium of approximately $0.80.
If these options prove to be profitable prior to the earnings release, I would sell at least half of them.
Crude oil drops on demand concerns After yesterday’s sharp drop, crude oil prices extended their losses first thing this morning, before bouncing off their lows. Oil was already under pressure on fears about demand following the weaker Chinese industrial data that was released on Tuesday and the larger crude build in the US as was reported by API on Tuesday. But prices fell about 3% after official data from the EIA showed a build of 2.7 million barrels on Wednesday, its fourth weekly build. The fact that these macro factors pushed crude oil below key short-term support at around the $84.00 - $84.50 area, this gave rise to further technical selling. Still, with the Middle East situation at the forefront of investors’ minds, the downside could be limited from here. At the time of writing, WTI was testing a key support area just below the $82 handle.
Middle East concerns should keep downside limited
Today we haven’t heard anything new related to the situation between Iran and Israel. UK’s foreign secretary and former prime minister David Cameron visited Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu to help prevent escalation on Wednesday. Cameron said: "We hope that anything Israel does is as limited and as targeted and as smart as possible. It's in no-one's interest that we see escalation and that is what we said very clearly to all the people I've been speaking to here in Israel." However, Netanyahu wasn’t having it, telling Cameron that Israel would "make its own decisions" over how to respond to Iran’s attack, vowing to do everything necessary to defend the nation.
So, there was no fresh support for oil concerning potential supply disruptions in the Middle East, leaving traders to concentrate on other factors. They realised that the demand outlook for oil is not so rosy after all. Demand concerns arose after weaker economic data was released from China on Tuesday, while the possibility of prolonged higher interest rates are also casting a shadow on the global economic recovery, and thus the oil demand outlook.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's recent more hawkish stance has tempered hopes for significant rate cuts this year, potentially leading to a slowdown in economic growth, which could further dampen the outlook for oil demand. With the US dollar has surging to a five-month high this week, this is amplifying the cost of oil for foreign buyers.
Still, the decline in oil prices is likely to be limited. Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, particularly concerning Israel's response to Iran's recent weekend attacks, is something that could support prices and push them higher in the event of a strong counterattack by Israel.
WTI technical levels to watch
While the short-term trend for oil may not appear bullish, the longer-term bullish technical outlook remains intact, and will remain that way until we see a major lower low form.
Wednesday’s selling got a boost after prices fell below the technically important $84.00 - $84.50 support area. This $84.00 - $84.50 region is now key in terms of potential resistances to watch moving forward.
The next key support level to watch is just below the $82 area on WTI, where the last rally around the end of last month started. Below here is the longer-term bullish trend line that comes in around the $80.00 area or so.
-- Written by Fawad Razaqzada, Market Analyst with Forex.com
Follow Fawad on Twitter @Trader_F_R