After falling over 25% in 2018, crude oil futures have posted a sharp recovery to start 2019. Recent news that OPEC is considering extending cuts beyond the 1.2 mb as well as a milder winter is allowing the driving season to get off to an early start. Gas Buddy, which researches over 150,000 gas stations with real time fuel price information, is expecting gasoline prices could surge to over $3.00 per gallon by May. This could easily increase demand for crude oil to be cracked in to more petroleum. Keep an eye out for $50 a barrel, this is a critical level that once we break through a new trend could be starting to the upside. Here is a chart of the daily February crude oil.

Crude Oil Feb ’19 Daily Chart

Crude Oil Feb '19 Daily Chart

Phillip Streible

Early in his career Phillip began trading his own account as a screen trader focusing on the metals, grains and stock indices. He then became a Series 7 licensed financial consultant with A.G. Edwards. Later, he expanded his trading experience into a Series 3 licensed commodity broker with Investment Analysis Group. Most recently he was a senior market strategist at MF Global before joining RJO Futures in October 2011 as a senior commodities broker. As a senior commodities broker his goal is to show clients how to anticipate, recognize and react to bull and bear market conditions through the use of technical analysis techniques that help them to define risk.