Gold Technical Analysis – Waiting for a catalyst for some action.

We haven’t seen
much action in gold this week as the lack of catalysts kept the market at bay.
In fact, the price action remains tentative as we head into the US CPI release
next Wednesday. Looking at the bigger picture, the Fed’s preference for a
higher for longer stance rather than further tightening is more or less neutral
for gold, although given the huge rally since the 2000 level it could lead to a
slow correction lower.

For another
sustained rally, gold will need the market to price back in more rate cuts, and
that should happen only with much weaker US data or downside surprises in the US
inflation figures. Conversely, another reacceleration in the data with hot readings
all around will likely trigger a faster selloff.

Gold
Technical Analysis – Daily Timeframe

On the daily
chart, we can see that gold consolidated around the 2300 level as the market
priced out almost all the rate cuts and the Fed is unwilling to tighten policy further.
We are in a kind of limbo right now, waiting for a catalyst to trigger another
sustained move. From a risk management perspective, the buyers will undoubtedly
have a much better risk to reward setup around the 2150 level where we can find
the confluence
of the previous all-time high, the major trendline
and the 61.8% Fibonacci
retracement level.

Gold
Technical Analysis – 1 hour Timeframe

On the 1 hour chart,
we can see that we have a range between the 2280 support
and the 2328 resistance. Technically, the market participants can “play the
range” by buying at support and selling at resistance but avoid trading in the
middle of the range unless there’s a tradable catalyst. The red line around the
2352 level defines the current technical downtrend, so a break above it should
turn the trend around and likely lead to a rally into a new all-time high.

Upcoming
Catalysts

Today we get the latest US Jobless Claims figures while tomorrow
we conclude the week with the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey.
It’s unlikely that we will see major changes to the market’s expectations
though, so the next big event to watch will be the US CPI next week.

See the video below

This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at www.forexlive.com.