Crude oil has spent the week behaving like a pinball inside a technical machine, ricocheting between key support and resistance levels as buyers and sellers repeatedly score points at familiar chart levels.The action began on Monday when the price dipped to its rising 100-hour moving average near $77.55. Buyers leaned against that support, defining their risk against the moving average, and were rewarded with a sharp rally. The move gathered momentum, broke above a downward-sloping trend line, and raced to a high of $81.25 on Tuesday. That rally fell just short of the 50% retracement of the decline from the early June high at $82.01, but it was an impressive advance in a very short period of time.From that high, the "pinball" reversed course, dropping back to the underside of the broken trend line near $77.84. Once again, buyers were waiting at that technical bumper, sending prices sharply back to the upside. Since Tuesday, the market has continued bouncing between those same boundaries, with support holding near $77.84 and resistance capping gains at $81.25.Earlier today, sellers briefly knocked the ball lower, pushing crude below the 38.2% retracement at $78.48 and beneath the rising 100-hour moving average. But just as it has throughout the week, support at $77.84 acted like another bumper, rejecting the decline and sending prices higher once again. Later in the session, the rally reached Tuesday's high at $81.25, where sellers defended the ceiling and knocked prices back.The market is now hovering around the $81.00 level as buyers try to score enough momentum to break through the top of this week's trading range. A sustained move above $81.25 would target the 50% retracement at $82.01. A clean break above that level would tilt the technical outlook more firmly in favor of the bulls and open the door for a stronger advance.Conversely, if the pinball continues bouncing within the machine, a move back below the rising 100-hour moving average, now at $79.17, would shift attention back toward the lower bumper at $77.84. A break below that level would represent an escape from the bottom of the range and could accelerate selling toward the rising 200-hour moving average near $75.78.For now, the pinball remains trapped between two important technical bumpers. The first decisive break outside the $77.84-$81.25 range is likely to determine the market's next meaningful move. This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.