WTI Price Analysis: Further downside hinges on $79.80 break

• WTI braces for first weekly loss in three on breaking 50-SMA, fortnight-long trend line.
• U-turn from two-month-old resistance, bearish MACD signals also keeps sellers hopeful.
• Ascending trend line from early January challenges immediate downside.

WTI crude oil remains on the back foot as it braces for the first weekly loss, after a fortnight of an uptrend, amid early Thursday in Europe.

The black gold’s latest weakness could be linked to its failure to cross the horizontal resistance area comprising multiple hurdles marked since early December 2022. Also, a clear downside break of the two-week-old ascending trend line and the 50-SMA joins the bearish MACD signals to bolster the downside bias.

However, an upward-sloping support line from January 06, close to $79.80 by the press time, restricts the nearby downside of the black gold.

Following that, the previous weekly low near $78.50 could act as an additional downside filter, a break of which may recall the Oil bears targeting the $70.00 round figure. During the fall, the monthly low and December’s bottom could probe the sellers around $72.60 and $70.25 in that order.

Alternatively, 50-SMA restricts WTI’s immediate upside near $80.70 ahead of the support-turned-resistance line from mid-January, close to $81.70 at the latest.

It’s worth noting, however, that the WTI bulls need to offer a successful break of the two-month-old horizontal hurdle surrounding $82.80, to retake control.

WTI: Four-hour chart

Trend: Further downside expected