WTI, the US oil benchmark, opened Monday higher and built on Friday\u2019s 3.5% rise. It briefly returned to $100 in early trading.<\/p>\n
The move followed fresh escalation in the Middle East after comments by US President Donald Trump on Saturday. Trump said US forces would \u2018obliterate\u2019 Iranian energy facilities if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.<\/p>\n
Iran responded on Sunday by warning it would strike the energy and water systems of Gulf neighbours if the US carries out the threat. The Israeli military also said Tehran fired two long-range missiles at Arad and Dimona in southern Israel.<\/p>\n
Israel reported about 160 people were injured in those strikes. Markets are weighing the risk of further attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure, and uncertainty over access through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
WTI price action later will depend on further developments connected to the strait and regional tensions. Traders will watch whether early-week gains hold.<\/p>\n
We are seeing echoes of the tensions from 2025 when WTI crude briefly topped $100 a barrel. Last year\u2019s escalation involving the Strait of Hormuz taught us how quickly geopolitical risk can be priced into the market. That memory is influencing how we view the current stability.<\/p>\n
With WTI currently trading around $85, the market feels less volatile than it did during the 2025 crisis. However, the latest EIA report shows global oil inventories are still 3% below the five-year average, leaving very little buffer for supply shocks. This fundamental tightness means any new flare-up could have an outsized impact on prices.<\/p>\n
We believe this environment warrants owning upside exposure through derivatives, as the 2025 event showed how quickly prices can move. Buying long-dated call options or bull call spreads on WTI or related ETFs offers a defined-risk way to capture a potential spike. The CBOE Crude Oil Volatility Index (OVX) hovering in the mid-30s reflects this lingering anxiety, making these options more expensive but potentially necessary.<\/p>\n
For those viewing current tensions as mere rhetoric, selling out-of-the-money put credit spreads could be a strategy to collect premium, betting that support levels will hold. However, the lesson from 2025\u2019s sudden missile strikes on Israel is that headlines can change violently and without warning. We are therefore cautious about taking on undefined risk in this market.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WTI tops $100 as Trump-Iran threats escalate; markets fear Hormuz disruption and regional energy infrastructure attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\t