WTI Price Analysis: Slides to the lower end of over one-week-old trading range support

• WTI crude oil prices fall to fresh weekly lows and challenge the recent trading range support.
• The technical set-up favours bearish traders and supports prospects for additional weakness.
• Only a sustained move back above the $43.00 mark will negate the near-term bearish outlook.

The intraday selling around WTI crude oil picked up pace during the early North American session and pushed spot prices to fresh weekly lows. The commodity has now dropped to the lower end of over one-week-old trading range, which if broken should set the stage for additional weakness.

Bearish traders might then aim to challenge the $42.00 mark before dragging the commodity further towards the next major support near the $41.70 horizontal level. Some follow-through selling would pave the way for an extension of the downtrend back towards the key $40.00 psychological mark.

Meanwhile, technical indicators on the daily chart have already lost positive momentum and drifting lower in the bearish territory on hourly charts. The set-up seems tilted in favour of bearish traders and supports prospects for a further near-term depreciating move towards the mentioned level.

On the flip side, any meaningful recovery attempt might now confront fresh supply and remain capped near the $43.00 mark. Only a sustained strength beyond the mentioned level will negate any near-term bearish bias and push the commodity back towards the $43.60-65 resistance zone.

WTI 4-hourly chart

Technical levels to watch