Energy

WTI Crude · Spot History

USD per barrel · Quotes delayed up to 5 minutes

oilenergyinflationindicatortime-series

Absolute values (dollar price)

Percentage change from start of period

Logarithmic scale — shows proportional changes equally

50-day Simple Moving Average — short-term trend

200-day Simple Moving Average — long-term trend

Relative Strength Index (14-period) — overbought above 70, oversold below 30

Moving Average Convergence Divergence (12/26/9) — trend & momentum signal

West Texas Intermediate crude oil’s price across time. WTI is the U.S. benchmark for light, sweet crude and is the most-traded oil futures contract globally. The chart captures both the broad strokes of energy cycles (the 2008 peak and crash, the 2014 collapse, the 2020 negative-price event, the 2022 spike) and the more granular response to OPEC decisions, U.S. shale production growth, and demand-side recessions.

Analyst's Note

WTI is most analytically useful when paired with Brent: the WTI–Brent spread reveals U.S. domestic supply/transport conditions independent of global oil market fundamentals. WTI is also closely tied to U.S. shale economics, which means that prolonged WTI weakness has direct implications for U.S. drilling activity and high-yield credit markets (which finance much of shale production). The macro investor should view WTI not just as an energy price but as a proxy for U.S. shale industry health and a derivative on Permian Basin productivity trends.