Gold and Silver chart patterns: bears fight back

Gold Chart Pattern

Gold’s chart pattern shows a strong fight back by the bears, just when all seemed lost. After moving above the 1770 level, gold’s price consolidated a bit before rising to a 2 months high of 1790. Proximity to the Nov ‘11 top of 1800 was used as an excuse by the bears to indulge in heavy selling.

Note that all three technical indicators touched lower tops as gold’s price reached a 2 months high. The negative divergences warned of an impending correction. But the high volume of selling marked a ‘distribution day’ (high near the opening level and a much lower close). Such high volumes were last seen during the sell-off in Sep ‘11. Volumes on down days (red volume bars) have exceeded volumes on up days (grey volume bars) on several occasions, and is a sign of distribution.

Gold’s price has dropped below its 20 day and 50 day EMAs, and it looks like it may drop further to its 200 day EMA. The technical indicators are looking bearish. The RSI has slipped below its 50% level. The MACD is still positive, but is falling below its signal line. The slow stochastic bounced up a bit from the edge of its oversold level, but it looks like a ‘dead cat bounce’.

Gold is still trading above its rising 200 day EMA – which means it is technically in a bull market. Hold, with a strict stop-loss at 1650.

Silver Chart Pattern

Silver’s chart pattern shows strong buying by the bulls in the third week of Feb ‘12 that pushed the price above the 37 level. High volume selling and a ‘reversal day’ pattern (higher high and lower close) marked the end of the intermediate rally from the Dec ‘11 low of 26.

The technical indicators are looking bearish. The RSI has dropped from the overbought zone to its 50% level. The MACD has crossed below its signal line, and is barely positive. The slow stochastic has fallen below its 50% level from its overbought zone.

Despite spending more than a month above the 200 day EMA, a bull market was not confirmed technically because the ‘golden cross’ of the 50 day EMA above the 200 day EMA didn’t occur.

Silver’s price is likely to fall below its 200 day EMA, and return to a bear market after a foray into bull territory. Sell.