{"id":29902,"date":"2026-03-05T02:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/uncategorized\/29902\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T02:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:01:08","slug":"wti-eases-from-earlier-rises-hovering-near-74-32-after-77-20-peak-as-traders-weigh-us-iran-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/live-updates\/29902\/","title":{"rendered":"WTI eases from earlier rises, hovering near $74.32 after $77.20 peak, as traders weigh US-Iran tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"WTI eased on Wednesday after reaching a one-year high near $77.20 on Tuesday, and was trading near $74.32. Prices were still up nearly 10% this week as traders tracked the US-Iran conflict.\n\nA New York Times report said Iranian operatives had shown openness to talks on ending the war. Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz remained disrupted, keeping a risk premium in prices.\n\n

Strait Of Hormuz Risk Premium<\/h3>\nUS President Donald Trump said the US would escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if needed. He also said the US would provide political risk insurance for ships travelling through the Gulf to support energy shipments.\n\nThe EIA reported US crude inventories rose by 3.475 million barrels last week, above expectations of 2.2 million barrels. The build followed a previous increase of 15.989 million barrels.\n\nOn charts, WTI has stayed in an uptrend since a low of $54.88 on 16 December, with higher highs and higher lows. RSI was near 77, and MACD remained above its signal line with a rising histogram.\n\nResistance stood near $77.20, then $79.00\u2013$80.00, including $79.37 from 15 January 2025, with $85.00 beyond that. Support was seen at $69.00\u2013$70.00, then the 21-day SMA near $65.86 and the 50-day SMA around $62.30.\n\n

Options Positioning And Key Levels<\/h3>\nWe remember the tension in early 2025 when the US-Iran conflict pushed WTI to a one-year high near $77. The market was driven by fears of supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. That geopolitical premium seems to be a persistent factor in today’s market.\n\nToday, the situation has evolved with WTI trading around $80 a barrel. Unlike the inventory builds we saw last year, the most recent EIA report showed US crude stocks increasing by only 1.4 million barrels, less than the expected 2.1 million. This suggests demand remains surprisingly firm.\n\nGiven this backdrop, we are seeing increased volatility, making long call options an attractive strategy to capture upside potential while defining risk. The recent decision by OPEC+ to extend their voluntary production cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day through the second quarter provides a strong floor for prices. This commitment to supply management removes a significant amount of oil from the market, tightening the global balance.\n\nThe resistance level we watched around $79-$80 in January 2025 has now become a key support zone. We are seeing significant open interest in WTI call options with strike prices at $85 and $90 for the coming months. A bull call spread could be a cost-effective way to play a gradual move towards those higher targets.\n\nHowever, we must remain watchful of the technical indicators, as the RSI is again approaching overbought territory, similar to the setup last year. Any sign of a diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East or a slowdown in China’s economic recovery could trigger a sharp pullback. Therefore, using put options for downside protection is prudent.\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 dips from one-year high; still up 10% as US-Iran tensions and Hormuz risks persist.<\/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-29902","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\/29902","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=29902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}