I know that there are quite a few folks that have purchased precious metals over the last decade primarily due to the federal reserve and their quantitative easing programs. (US Dollar debasement)
In my speculative opinion, Gold has consolidated long enough since the ~$1900 peak in 2011. Lets review a few charts to see if 2018 may hold a significant rally...
Starting off with the weekly Gold chart from 2011. There is a Heikin Ashi overlay on the candlesticks. Would you say that 6 years is a fair amount of time for a consolidation after the run up from 2000 to 2011?
Daily Gold chart with the last printed price of $1320. Gold needs to break above the previous highs of $1357 and $1375 to continue it's bullish run. I looked briefly at the Bollinger Bands on the daily chart and the price is riding the upper band. Gold may pull back in a day or two, but I expect this rally to continue.
Here is the daily Gold Miners ETF, GDX since the peak in 2016. It has been stuck in a trading range for quite a while... Only the traders/hedge funds are making any money here...
Here is the daily Junior Gold Miners ETF, GDXJ since the peak in 2016. A few of the key levels are indicated in Red.
Here is the Weekly US Dollar chart from 2009. You can see that since the start of 2017, it has been on a bearish trend.
The daily USD chart show the recent lows of 91.92 in May 2016 and 91.01 in September last year.
If the USD breaks 91.01, look for a continued bearish market which will fuel the commodities markets. Gold, Silver and the miners should benefit from the decline.
I speculate that some precious metals accumulators will be selling as the Gold/Silver prices rise to put the money into the crypto market. We know the precious metals are insurance, but people are tired of watching their insurance decline in value while the crypto market is on FIRE!!!
The big banks and hedge funds are always looking for a good trade (HFT) and that will also help fuel the rally. Instead of them shorting Crimex contracts, they will be long.
HodL on for now and look for potential spikes in price before bailing =)