The global energy complex is a vast network that’s worth billions in daily trade. Within this asset class, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is the premier futures product. On the CME alone, WTI crude oil futures average nearly 1.2 million contracts traded per session. Given its consistent depth and volatility, CME WTI crude oil is an exceedingly popular contract for intraday traders.
In this blog article, we’ll take a look at three categories of vital crude oil day trading indicators: fundamental, momentum oscillators, and support & resistance levels.
Oil Fundamentals Are Key
As with any commodity, supply and demand are the primary underpinnings of crude oil pricing. Accordingly, it’s imperative that traders not completely ignore market fundamentals in favor of technical analysis. In fact, energy traders who combine fundamentals and technicals enjoy two key benefits:
- Market timing: Being aware of release dates of official reports or key events is critical to limiting exposure to market turbulence. For instance, OPEC+ meetings or the weekly API and WTI inventories reports can quickly spike participation and influence price action.
- Trend following: Understanding the evolving supply and demand dynamic can shed some light on developing macro trends. You can accomplish this by studying global and regional production and consumption.
Fundamental crude oil day trading indicators can help traders manage periodic volatility and align their strategies with broader trends. These are vital elements for aligning risk to reward successfully over the long haul.
Momentum Oscillators
A momentum oscillator is a technical tool used to quantify the strength of a directional move in price. Examples of such devices are the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD), Relative Strength Index (RSI), and stochastics. Momentum oscillators are fantastic crude oil day trading indicators because they directly address the volatile price action typical of WTI futures.
Day traders who use oscillators gain several advantages:
- They’re applicable on all intraday time frames.
- They excel in quantifying short-term trend strength.
- They’re great for identifying reversal and exhaustion points.
Momentum oscillators are ideal tools for breakout trading, reversal strategies, and multiple time frame analysis.
Support & Resistance Levels
Support & resistance levels (SRs) are technical areas that may potentially constrict price action. SRs are empirical in nature, having been calculated by external indicators. A few of the most prominent devices for deriving SRs are Fibonacci tools, pivot points, moving averages, and Bollinger Bands.
SRs serve a variety of purposes and provide users with a range of indispensable upsides:
- Precision: SRs generate exact price points that leave little room for error. A support level exists beneath price, whereas a resistance level rests above price.
- Market entry/exit points: SRs are ideal for identifying market entry or exit points. They work well as either profit targets or stop losses.
- Complimentary: A trader may easily combine a set of SRs with other indicators or market technicals. In fact, they work well alongside momentum oscillators or fundamental data.
When used in live market conditions, SRs provide the day trader with exact price points they need to be aware of. Also, they are great for market entry/exit and open position management. Finally, SRs may be easily integrated with other crude oil day trading indicators.
Making Money with Crude Oil Day Trading Indicators
At the end of the day, making money is the ultimate goal of trading futures. And the crude oil day trading indicators mentioned above can help you do just that!
