WTI Price Prediction: Looking to extend climb above $78.00

Futures for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) are encountering resistance in a rally expanding above the $78.00 barrier in the early Asian session. As China exposed its economy to international travel, think tanks were compelled to revise their oil demand forecasts upwards. Previously, the price of black gold exhibited a solid northward movement after passing the significant resistance at approximately $77.00.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index (DXY) continues to demonstrate erratic behavior around 103.00 in advance of Thursday's release of United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.

On a four-hour period, the oil price is exhibiting a Symmetrical Triangle chart pattern, which is indicative of a decrease in volatility. The aforementioned chart pattern explodes, resulting in bigger ticks and strong volume. The upward-sloping trendline of the chart pattern is positioned around $70.27 from the low on December 9. The downward-sloping trendline is drawn from the high on December 1 of $83.30.

The 20-period and 50-period Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) are about to produce a bull cross.

In the meantime, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) (14) has reached the positive zone of 60.00-80.00, which could lead to the activation of bullish momentum.

Typically, a perpendicular run-up is followed by a corrective move, therefore it will be preferable to position a long entry around the immediate support, which is the high from January 9 at $76.90. This will push the asset towards Wednesday's high of approximately $78.00, followed by January 3's peak of $81.56.

Alternativamente, a breach below the low of January 5 at $72.64 will push the oil price toward the low of December 9 at $70.27. After giving up the support at the December 9 low of $70.20, the asset would be vulnerable to more losses to approach the low of $69.32 on 14 December 2021.