WTI Price Forecast: Bullish setup supports further gains as price climbs above mid-$98.00s

• After two days of sizeable swings in both directions, WTI resumes its advance.
• With geopolitical uncertainty persisting, the commodity continues to draw support, favouring the bulls.
• Further gains towards $100.00 remain supported by a favourable technical backdrop.

The $98.70 area comes into view for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) during Thursday’s Asian session as fresh buying lifts the US crude oil benchmark. Prices remain close to the highest level since 15 September, reached earlier this week.

Fears of disruption to energy supplies remain a key source of support for oil, as concerns persist that tensions in the Middle East could escalate further. In the latest incident, a drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field in the Eastern Province killed two expatriates and injured two others.

Plans for a brief but intense military campaign against Iran following the US midterm elections have been drawn up by the US and Israel, The New York Times reported. In separate remarks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stressed that the country was prepared to defend itself, while also saying that Tehran was willing to give diplomacy with the US another chance.

On the 4-hour chart, crude oil continues to trade comfortably above the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA). The short-term uptrend also appears intact following Tuesday’s rebound from former resistance near $95.00, which now serves as support. This is despite recent volatility driven by conflicting signals on US-Iran peace talks.

Momentum indicators present a more measured picture: the Relative Strength Index (RSI), at around 57, retains a neutral-to-positive bias, but the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) remains below zero. This points to moderate rather than forceful upward momentum. Even so, the generally favourable technical backdrop suggests that $95.00 could provide support for any corrective decline.

Around $92.76, the 100-period SMA provides the structural floor. Within the prevailing bullish backdrop, buyers would be expected to regain control there if prices retreated more deeply. A move below this key support would, however, undermine the bullish structure. Remaining above it would leave scope for another test of the recent psychological $100 area and potentially higher levels.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

WTI on the 4-hour chart