On Wednesday (December 18), US crude oil rose slightly in the Asian session, trading around $69.81 per barrel. The API data of the United States last week showed that crude oil inventories decreased by 4.69 million barrels, and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East may escalate, providing support for oil prices. However, the current market trading is light, and it is relatively cautious on the eve of the Fed's interest rate decision, so oil prices have returned to the central range of fluctuations.

According to the Jerusalem Post on December 16, the Israeli government may decide to launch a large-scale attack on the Houthi armed forces in Yemen within a few weeks. Recently, Israel's strategic situation in many places in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria is relatively favorable. 

Therefore, after the Houthi armed forces launched ballistic missiles again on the 16th, Israel is ready to launch a military operation against the Houthi armed forces. If the geopolitical situation in the Middle East expands to more countries, oil prices may rebound.

Crude oil fell from a high of 70.9 yesterday, but the long orders at a low of 69.1 also reached 70.2. Since the range has not been broken, we can still maintain yesterday's 71.4-69.1 range. From a technical perspective, the bottom signal of the 1-hour line is obvious, and the real-time price stands above the middle track of the Bollinger Band. 

The intraday trend is expected to continue to rise and test the upper resistance.

Today's resistance focus is first on the 1-hour Bollinger Band upper track 70.8 position, followed by the 4-hour Bollinger Band SAR indicator pressure point 71.1 and the suppression range formed by this week's high point 71.4. 

The upward deviation can be seen at the 72 integer mark. In terms of support, pay attention to the support range formed by the 1-hour SAR extension point 69.5 and yesterday's low point 69.1. Today, I will use the 69.1 position to determine the long and short positions. If there is no breakthrough, it will be seen as a high-level shock. If it breaks down, it will be seen that the market will continue. 

Today's operation recommends rebounding shorting as the main method and low-level long positions as the auxiliary method. Crude oil strategy: short if it rebounds to 70.8, cover short positions at 71.3, stop loss at 71.7, target 70-69.1, hold if it breaks down and look at 68 and 67; if it retreats to 69.4-69.1 area first, go long, stop loss at 68.7, target 70-70.7.

Disclaimer: The article is contributed by the market analyst from Bitop market observation team. The content is solely for personal opinions and sharing. The analysis is time-sensitive and provided for reference and discussion only. It does not constitute any investment advice. The market is risky, so investing should be done cautiously.