Monday, January 27, 2014

Gold And Silver – Chart Reading More Accurately Depicts Fundamentals/Technicals.

Is there a difference between fundamental analysis v technical analysis?  A qualified yes.
How so qualified?  We do not speak for others, not even from the “technical” camp for
there is a distinct difference between strict technical analysis and “reading” a chart based
solely on price and volume.
We are not fundamentalists, at all, with emphasis on at all.  Nor are we technicians, as
most technical analysts, [TA], are.  TA rely upon a few or several technical tools as a means
of interpreting the markets, such as moving averages, [even used by fundamentalists, to a
degree], RSI, Bollinger Bands, MACD, trend lines, overbought/oversold indicators, etc, etc.
What we use exclusively is a combination of price and volume and read within the context
of the prevailing trend, for whatever time frame, monthly down to intra day.  The range of
a bar tells the ease, or lack of market movement.  The location of the close says  who won
the battle between buyers and sellers.  When volume is added into the mix, the market
begins to take on life, of sorts, that fleshes out the actual ebb and flow of the tug-o-war
between the opposing forces of supply and demand.
Fundamentals are an attempt to discover and measure the factors of supply and demand.
The biggest problem with any such analysis is one of timing.  There is none.  The other
issue is the degree of awareness of 
which fundamentals are the biggest drivers; some may
not be known or even recognized, leaving any such analysis incomplete.
Admittedly, we know nothing about fundamentals, by choice.  What we know of them is
that they are fully incorporated into the charts by those who know what they know and
ultimately make a decision to act upon that knowledge.  That action gets translated into
price and volume
.  It matters not if it is widely known information, insider information,
market manipulation, what have you.  It 
has to show up in executed price and be a part of
total volume.  Once information enters the market in price and volume,  it is a 
“got ya”
moment.
As to the more commonly recognized technical analysis, every tool is a derivative of
price and volume.  We simply choose to focus on the purity of the information in its
original format.  Derived technical tools are all attempts to impose past tense market
information onto the present tense in an effort to “predict” the future tense.
It is absurd for anyone to “predict” any future market action, especially the ones that
say 
when price is going to rally or decline, and those that show a chart depicting the
future course the market 
will take.  Please stop, or at least review your own results.
The future has not yet happened.  There are aspects about the market of which we are
certain:  
Anything can happen, at any time.  Every trade potential is a unique event.
Markets may appear similar, but the players in the current market are very different
than the ones from a similar past situation.  
How price will develop into the future isunknown and cannot be known in advance.
The market is based on probabilities, outcomes that are likely to occur, and howeverlikely they are to occur, no one can know how they will unfold.  You have a history from
the past two years of endless 
predictions on where the prices of gold and silver would be.
We have not kept a scorecard on the silliness of how wrong so much respected talent, and
lesser, varying degrees of not so much talent that have totally missed the mark.
Where do we stand in the overall picture?  We thought gold and silver would be higher,
and we have advocated the purchase of the 
physical metals, for reasons explained, but we
have 
not advocated trading gold and/or silver from the long side, [save a few short-term
trades that were qualified as to why].  The 
only reason why the futures markets were
shunned  from the long side was for the simple reading of the charts: 
the trend has been
down.
The primary reason for owning the physical has been as a form of asset protection, and
that has not worked well for the past few years as the value of silver and gold have been
on the decline.  Go beyond just the past few years, however, and the value of the PMs have
done very well.
Have other asset classes performed better?  Absolutely!  It then becomes a matter of
personal choice if one wants to own PMs, stocks, real estate, 
Bitcoin, even fiat currency.
Some assets will always outperform other assets.  Gold and silver happen to be in a class
of their own, with a proven history, not always as the best protection, at times,  but proven
consistently, over time.  They have no third-party counter-risk, and they are perhaps the
most recognized 
and widely accepted assets around the world, bar none.
As to the current charts, we are starting to see some subtle changes in market behavior.
The trend remains down, and we are not making a 
prediction that the trend will change
next week, next month, or whenever.  
It does not matter.  [Now we are referring to the
paper futures market].
The sole purpose for trading futures is to increase one’s capital of  fiat-based assets.  There
is always risk of loss, as many know.  For us, and for those who want to grow their capital,
the best time to make a market commitment is 
with the trend.  There is no reason to be
long in a declining market, and the number of profitable longs in either gold or silver has
been very small over the past few years, a handful of bottom-pickers.
As an aside, re bottom-pickers, there is almost nothing worse than being right for the
wrong reason.  It leads to bad habits of trying to replicate the lucky event.  Luck always
runs out.
When the trend turns up, there will be ample opportunity to be positioned from the
long side with a lower risk and a higher probability of a profitable outcome, but never
guaranteed.  There is no need to guess.  There is no need to predict.  Let the market take
its course, and 
then follow its confirmed direction
Will you catch the bottom?  No.  [Care to guess how may have tried and succeeded in
the past few years?] If you can consistently catch profitable trades, 
with the trend as it
develops for at least many months and more, does that not make plain common sense?
Price is knocking on the down trend door in gold, but that does not mean it is knocking
that door down.  It takes 
time to turn a trend.  We show gold testing a small 50% range.
There are two higher half-way points that price has yet to approach, so despite a decent
rally, last week, the trend has not turned.  How gold corrects lower over the next week or
two may well provide some important trend information.
Given how no one knows how the market will correct, it is best to wait and see what the
market reveals, first.
GC W 25 Jan 14
The daily shows in detail why gold was expected, [not predicted], to run into resistance at
the 1260 – 1270 area.  Always think of support or resistance as a 
price area and not just an
absolute number.  Thursday’s wide range, high volume bar was likely a combination of
short covering and maybe some new buying.  What will be key to watch is 
how price
retraces this last rally effort.
If the market intends to go higher, the next correction will have smaller ranges and lighter
volume, indicating less selling pressure.  If price corrects on increased volume and wider
ranges with weak closes lower, then the down trend will remain intact.
Let the market declare itself.
GC D 25 Jan 14
A Tale of Two Metals.  Silver acts differently than gold.  It is clear that the trend remains
lower with no sign of buyers taking control.  A picture of 1,000 words to which we need not
add.
As an aside, how does one reconcile this chart with the fundamentals?  Everyone claims
the fundamentals for silver are ultra-bullish.  Does the chart match?
SI W 25 Jan 14
Silver has work to do to turn the trend around.  Looking at the daily chart, in some ways it
would not take much effort to end the down trend.
There are no guarantees that physical silver and gold will continue to be available at
current prices, maybe not even at any price until it adjusts to a higher level.   That is the
risk everyone who want to buy coins and bars takes, while waiting or trying to get a
better price or simply trying to outguess the market.
Everyone knows the vaults for physical-by-the-tonne are like Old Mother Hubbard’s
cupboards, and the premium for higher amounts of gold, to the extent any is
available, continues to grow.  No one knows when the available supply for physical-
by-the-ounce will also tighten.  
Anything can happen.
SI D 25 Jan 14
 


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