In our regular gold trading alerts, we focus on the short- and medium-term outlook and we rarely discuss the very long-term issues or price targets. The reason is simple – the long-term issues and price targets don’t change often, so usually, there’s little new to say about them. Consequently, it’s been a long time since we last discussed our view on gold’s explosive upside potential. In fact, it’s been so long that those who do not take the time to read our analyses thoroughly and those who have been reading them for only a short while may think that we are bearish on gold in the long run. Or that we’re perma-bears.

During yesterday’s session, silver moved back and forth in a volatile manner on volume that was the highest since April 2013.

The precious metals sector moved higher in the first days of this year, but based on yesterday’s decline and the current price levels, 2018 is already a down year for silver and mining stocks. Is the rally indeed over?

Time is more important than price. That’s what we - investors – are often made to believe regarding the future price movement. And rightfully so about the gold price.

The last couple of years and—in particular—the last couple of months were very difficult for gold traders—i.e. they were boring. Despite several huge daily price swings, the precious metals market has not been going anywhere, moving in and around the $1,100 - $1,300 price range.

On Monday, official data showed that Chinese demand for crude oil declined in July, which together with a stronger greenback and concerns over a rise in OPEC output weighed on investors’ sentiment and pushed the price of the black gold lower. As a result, light crude lost 2.52% and closed the day below $48. How low could the commodity go in the coming days?

Some time ago we discussed the analogies in the silver market and the implication of the analogies was that a big decline should follow.

In the first part of the Preparing for THE Bottom series, we emphasized the need to be sure to stay alert and focused in the precious metals market, even though it may not appear all that interesting.