Is Oil ready to retrace a little?
This zoomed-out H4 chart shows a powerful breakout above resistance with solid follow through, which confirms the fundamental factors currently at play, i.e. under-supply. But price action is starting to look a bit exhausted and may retrace, despite both MRSI and Gold/Oil Ratio clearly indicating that a strong uptrend is in progress. I would be prepared to buy a breakout above the latest resistance level, and equally prepared to exit on a return below it.
Same chart zoomed in.
LONDON (Bloomberg) -- With oil prices trading near their highest level in two years, some traders are betting that the price rise could have more room to run.
A total of 48,000 contracts have traded over the last few days that would profit most if Brent spikes before Christmas, including several large individual trades. They include 14,000 options giving traders the right to buy February Brent at $71/bbl, as well as 22,000 for $85 and 12,000 for $80. They all expire on Dec. 21.
Oil prices have rallied in recent weeks as OPEC supply cuts help to rebalance an oil market plagued by oversupply. More recently, growing tensions between Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest oil producer, and some of its neighbors helped prices break above $60/bbl for the first time since 2015.
Against that backdrop, the crude options market has generally been looking brighter. The so-called put skew, the difference in demand for bullish call options versus bearish put options, has also fallen in recent days. That gauge closed at its least bearish level since late-August on Thursday, bolstering oil’s rosy outlook.
Price action is clearly confirming the fundamental factors at play. Look at the daily chart below.