WTI Crude – Bulls Take a Breather Below Cloud Top After Two-Day Surge

WTI oil prices retreated slightly on Wednesday after hitting a fresh five-week high, easing from strong gains of more than 6% over the previous two sessions.

The pullback was driven by partial profit-taking and rising uncertainty surrounding President Trump’s latest threat to impose 100% secondary tariffs on countries importing Russian oil.

The rally had been capped repeatedly just below the top of the thick daily Ichimoku cloud. Monday’s breakout into the cloud and Tuesday’s approach to its upper boundary generated a strong bullish signal.

Technical indicators remain favorable — a Tenkan/Kijun-sen bull cross and a positive 14-day momentum reading — but an overbought stochastic and flat RSI suggest consolidation may be ahead before another potential leg higher.

Initial support lies at $67.96/85 (former resistance zone marked by the 200-day moving average and 38.2% Fibo retracement of the $64.72–$69.78 rally). Holding above this area would indicate a healthy correction and keep the focus on a fresh attempt at the cloud top and psychological $70 mark, with a break above signaling bullish continuation.

However, a deeper pullback toward $67.25 (50% retracement / daily Tenkan-sen) would delay further upside, though downside risks remain limited while above this level.

A drop below the cloud base at $66.65 would shift the near-term outlook to bearish.

Adding to the softer tone today was a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories, with the API reporting a 1.53 million barrel rise versus expectations for a 2.5 million barrel draw. Traders now await the official EIA data, forecast to show a 2.3 million barrel decline.

Res: 69.62; 70.00; 70.92; 71.33
Sup: 68.59; 67.96; 67.25; 66.65