Gold Jumps To Crucial Technical Level. Important Action Coming Up

After what seems like a decade in the shadow of tech stocks and cryptocurrencies, gold and silver are rocking again. Which of course leaves everyone wondering if this is the beginning of the long-awaited epic run, or just a head fake preceding yet another grinding, protracted, soul-sucking decline.

The following chart has a couple of technical indicators that, if history still matters, shed some light on the challenges gold now faces. The first is the 50-day moving average, shown here as the thin line that tracks the more colorful price line. Note how when gold’s price spikes above the moving average, it is, in technical terms, “overbought.” In other words, it’s ahead of itself and has to fall to get back into sync with longer-term momentum.

In late 2017 gold pierced its moving average and kept on going, and is now far into overbought territory. That’s a negative.

The second indicator is the $1,360/oz level, which seems to represent serious resistance. Whenever gold has gotten close (or briefly spiked above) this number, it’s been quickly smacked back down. As this is written on the evening of January 24, gold is at $1,362. Again, negative.

Bull markets frequently progress through a series of such tests, with a security or asset class trying and failing to break through – until finally it does. After which it rallies to the next, much higher resistance level.

Where is gold in this process? Will it have to bounce off more technical barriers before, someday in the indeterminate future, rising to its intrinsic value of $5,000 – $10,000? Or will today’s overwhelmingly positive fundamentals (spiraling global debt, rising inflation, the falling dollar, cryptocurrency profits looking for a home, Chinese and Russian gold demand, alarming geopolitical crises everywhere) bring sound money back into style sooner rather than later?

Technical analysis deals in probabilities, and based on the history of the above indicators the highest percentage bet would be to take some profits after Wednesday’s spike. But based on fundamentals — which are now a raging fire in the fiat currency theater from which everyone will soon be fleeing – selling precious metals or related mining stocks here risks missing out on what could be an epic bull market.