While the angst among rookie gold and silver bugs was palpable in the last few weeks, it is nothing that us really OGs haven’t seen before. The reality is that if the demand for US dollars continues as margin calls and market hysteria about the government shutdown continues, gold, especially paper gold, is the go to selling instrument for rapidly raising cash without touching other key reserves like blue chip equities or government bonds.
This creates the question, just what is gold doing and how did we get here? This chart answers a lot of those questions:
If one reviews this chart the blue boxes clearly demonstrates the short term consolidations which have happened after the 2022 to 2024 long term consolidation. As profit taking is completed in addition to cash calls over the next 30 to 60 days, this consolidation should complete by late December as everyone begins to position for what looks like an extremely turbulent 2026.
As these pages have outlined, a consolidation period between $3600-$3800 per ounce would be logical, but financial markets are anything but that, so do not be shocked if the move sideways resides in the $3800-$4100 range for longer than anticipated.
Barring a major geopolitical event like a sudden war, just be patient and watch the market action in both the cash and futures markets as time is the precious metals player’s ally now.