Gold rallied last week towardthe top of a down-trending channel that has been in force since prices peakedlast summer.
Abreakout attempt in early January failed. The gold market subsequently slumpedto a potential double-bottom low in March around $1,675/oz.
The $1,800 level now loomsas a critical technical juncture.
The recent bounce couldeither fail around there… or gather the strength to finally break out of themulti-month corrective phase.
A strong push above $1,800(confirmed by a weekly close) would carry hugely bullish implications for theremainder of the spring. New all-time highs could soon be in sight.
Bearish traders, though,will be eyeing lower levels if resistance kicks in and triggers a sell-off.
Either scenario could playout in the near term. However, the bullish scenario does have a few thingsgoing for it.
For one, the gold marketappears overdue for a period of seasonal strength after suffering an unusuallybad first quarter.
Gold prices may also be dueto play catch-up to palladium, copper, and other outperforming metals.
Gathering strength in themining sector in recent weeks suggests investors there anticipate firmer goldprices.
What’s bullish for gold istypically super-bullish for silver. Silver bulls are watching for a move above$27.00/oz to establish a breakout above the March high.
Is a Silver Raid Coming?
Some internet chatter ispointing to April 20th as a day for a “silver raid” – massive physical buyingof bullion that depletes available inventories and pressures largeinstitutional short sellers to capitulate.
It is difficult to gaugewhat impact, if any, this campaign will have on bullion availability or actualspot prices. The paper market for silver typically doesn’t react, at least notimmediately, to developments in the bullion market.
That said, someinternet-sourced campaigns have proven quite impactful on markets this year.
For example, TheWallStreetBets community directly fueled a spike in Gamestop and other targetedstocks. And the once obscure joke of a cryptocurrency called Dogecoin got“memed” back into relevance – to the tune of over $40 billion in market value.
What Dogecoin is actuallygoing to be used for other than to be traded back into other crypto or fiatcurrencies, nobody seems to know (or care). But Elon Musk is fond of it, andthere’s no particular reason why Dogecoin can’t become as valuable as Bitcoin.
That value, down the road,could be multiples of today’s market prices… or a tiny fraction of them.
There’s no particularreason to expect any cryptocurrency to retain a certain value given thatanother digital coin could always come along to steal its momentum. Or theentire space could fall from grace and become functionally obsolete like somany other captivating technology innovations from the past.
The upshot is that ifdigital tokens backed by nothing and shares of companies with dismal businessoutlooks can surge for no fundamental reasons other than internet chatter, thesame sort of boost could accrue to assets that do have actual fundamentals behindthem.
It wouldn’t take much,relative to the size of crypto and equity markets, to move silver a lot.
A super-spike in silverprices as a result of a “raid” or “squeeze” isn’t necessarily somethinginvestors should expect. But crazier things have happened in other assets thathave gone viral on the internet – and silver has the benefit of being usefuland scarce in the real world.
Stefan Gleason isPresident of Money Metals Exchange, the national precious metals company named 2015"Dealer of the Year" in the United States by an independent globalratings group. A graduate of the University of Florida, Gleason is a seasonedbusiness leader, investor, political strategist, and grassroots activist.Gleason has frequently appeared on national television networks such as CNN, FoxNews,and CNBC, and his writings have appeared in hundreds of publications such asthe Wall Street Journal, Detroit News, Washington Times, and National Review.
© 2021 Stefan Gleason - All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.
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