{"id":29855,"date":"2026-03-04T13:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/uncategorized\/29855\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T13:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:59:08","slug":"wti-crude-rises-towards-76-nearing-a-one-year-peak-as-middle-east-tensions-attract-buyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/live-updates\/29855\/","title":{"rendered":"WTI crude rises towards $76, nearing a one-year peak as Middle East tensions attract buyers"},"content":{"rendered":"WTI crude rose on Wednesday to about $76.00, up over 3% on the day. It moved back towards its highest level since January 2025 after three days of gains.\n\nTensions involving the US, Israel and Iran increased concerns about supply disruption in the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz was described as effectively closed, and Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that any vessel trying to pass would be set on fire.\n\n

Middle East Supply Risk<\/h3>\nPresident Donald Trump said the US Navy would protect ships in the region if needed. The report said shipping through the strait remained limited as operators avoided the risk.\n\nThe US Dollar stayed below its highest level since November 2025, set on Tuesday. This supported dollar-priced commodities such as oil.\n\nThe dollar\u2019s downside was limited as traders reduced expectations for faster Federal Reserve easing. Markets cut back bets on three US rate cuts in 2026 due to concerns that higher oil prices could feed inflation.\n\nThe key driver for us right now is the massive supply shock coming from the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. We know that historically, based on U.S. Energy Information Administration data, this chokepoint accounts for the transit of nearly 21% of global daily oil consumption. With vessels unwilling to risk passage, the market must immediately price in a severe and immediate crude oil shortage.\n\n

Volatility And Trading Strategy<\/h3>\nGiven the high level of uncertainty, we should focus on the spike in market volatility. The CBOE Crude Oil Volatility Index (OVX) has already jumped to over 50, a sharp increase from the low 30s we saw just last month, indicating traders are bracing for significant price swings. This environment makes buying long-dated call options or using bull call spreads attractive strategies to gain upside exposure while managing risk.\n\nWe can look at the market reaction in early 2022 as a recent historical guide for this kind of event. When the conflict in Ukraine began, fears of supply disruption sent WTI prices surging from around $90 to over $120 a barrel in less than two weeks. A complete and prolonged shutdown of the Strait presents a similar, if not more significant, threat to global supply.\n\nWhile we are also tracking the US Dollar, the immediate physical supply crisis is overshadowing everything else. The Federal Reserve will almost certainly pause any consideration of rate cuts, as this energy price surge directly fuels inflation fears. However, for traders in the coming weeks, the daily headlines from the Middle East will be far more important than any economic data releases.\n\nCreate your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b>\n

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Start trading now – Click here<\/a> to create your real VT Markets account <\/strong> <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WTI crude climbed above $76 amid Middle East supply fears, Strait of Hormuz risks, and softer US dollar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}