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A new high above 1,318.53 provides some confidence in the main Elliott wave count. The target remains the same.

Summary: The target is now at 1,431. Further and substantial confidence in an upwards trend may be had now if price makes a new high above 1,333.84.

Always trade with stops to protect your account. Risk only 1-5% of equity on any one trade.

New updates to this analysis are in bold.

Grand SuperCycle analysis is here.

Last in-depth historic analysis with monthly and several weekly charts is here, video is here.

There are multiple wave counts at this time at the weekly and monthly chart levels. In order to make this analysis manageable and accessible only two will be published on a daily basis, one bullish and one bearish. This does not mean the other possibilities may not be correct, only that publication of them all each day is too much to digest. At this stage, they do not diverge from the two possibilities below.

BULLISH ELLIOTT WAVE COUNT

FIRST WEEKLY CHART

Gold Elliott Wave Chart Weekly 2018
Click chart to enlarge.

Cycle wave b may be a single zigzag. Zigzags subdivide 5-3-5. Primary wave C must subdivide as a five wave structure and may be either an impulse or an ending diagonal. Overlapping at this stage indicates an ending diagonal.

Within an ending diagonal, all sub-waves must subdivide as zigzags. Intermediate wave (4) must overlap into intermediate wave (1) price territory. This diagonal is expanding: intermediate wave (3) is longer than intermediate wave (1) and intermediate wave (4) is longer than intermediate wave (2). Intermediate wave (5) must be longer than intermediate wave (3), so it must end above 1,398.41 where it would reach equality in length with intermediate wave (3).

Within the final zigzag of intermediate wave (5), minor wave B may not move beyond the start of minor wave A below 1,236.54. However, if it were now to turn out to be relatively deep, it should not get too close to this invalidation point as the lower (2)-(4) trend line should provide strong support. Diagonals normally adhere very well to their trend lines.

Within the diagonal of primary wave C, each sub-wave is extending in price and so may also do so in time. Within each zigzag, minor wave B may exhibit alternation in structure and may show an increased duration.

Within intermediate wave (1), minor wave B was a triangle lasting 11 days. Within intermediate wave (3), minor wave B was a regular flat lasting 60 days. Intermediate wave (5) is expected to be longer in price than intermediate wave (3), and it may also be longer in duration, and so minor wave B within it may also be longer in duration. If minor wave B is over at the last low, it would have lasted 68 days.

This first weekly chart sees the upwards wave labelled primary wave A as a five wave structure. It must be acknowledged that this upwards wave looks better as a three than it does as a five. The fifth weekly chart below will consider the possibility that it was a three.

FIRST DAILY CHART

Gold Elliott Wave Chart Daily 2018
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Minor wave B may be a complete single regular flat correction. Within the flat, minute wave a is a three, a single zigzag, and minute wave b is a three, a double zigzag, and minute wave c is a five that has moved price slightly below the end of minute wave a. There is a very close Fibonacci ratio of equality between minute waves a and c.

Regular flats normally fit very well into parallel channels. Minute wave c has found support almost exactly at the lower edge of this channel. This gives the flat correction the right look.

HOURLY CHART

Gold Elliott Wave Chart Hourly 2018
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Minute wave i may be over as a leading expanding diagonal. This may now be followed by a complete expanded flat for minute wave ii, which is very deep at 0.73 the length of minute wave i. Second wave corrections following first wave leading diagonals are commonly very deep.

A breach of the green Elliott channel by at least one full hourly candlestick above and not touching it would provide reasonable confidence that a low is in place.

Final confidence now may come with a new high above 1,333.84. At that stage, any alternate may be invalidated.

A target is calculated now for minute wave iii. The Fibonacci ratio used is 2.618 because minute wave ii is so deep.

Minute wave iii may only subdivide as an impulse, and within it minuette wave (i) may be incomplete.

Within minuette wave (i), subminuette waves i and ii may be complete. Within subminuette wave iii, the correction of micro wave 2 may not move beyond the start of micro wave 1 below 1,310.98.

A base channel is drawn about subminuette waves i and ii. Along the way up, corrections may find support about the lower edge of this channel.

FIRST DAILY CHART – ALTERNATE

Gold Elliott Wave Chart Daily 2018
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It is possible that the impulse for minute wave c is incomplete. The last seven days may be minuette wave (iv) only. There is now a little disproportion between the corrections of minuette waves (ii) and (iv). Both are double zigzags, so there is no alternation in structure. The probability of this wave count is reduced.

Minute wave c may end with a small overshoot of the lower pink trend line. Strong support is still in the zone about 1,300 to 1,310, so not much if any movement below this zone would be expected for this wave count.

Minuette wave (iv) has today breached a channel drawn using Elliott’s first technique. The channel is redrawn using Elliott’s second technique.

Minuette wave (iv) may not move into minuette wave (i) price territory above 1,333.84.

This wave count may be discarded prior to invalidation if upwards movement continues and has support from volume.

HOURLY CHART

Gold Elliott Wave Chart Hourly 2018
Click chart to enlarge.

Minuette wave (iv) may have continued higher as a double zigzag. A new target is calculated for minuette wave (v) using the most common Fibonacci ratio for a fifth wave.

BEARISH ELLIOTT WAVE COUNT

FIFTH WEEKLY CHART

Gold Elliott Wave Chart Weekly 2018
Click chart to enlarge.

There were five weekly charts published in the last historic analysis. This fifth weekly chart is the most immediately bearish wave count, so this is published as a bearish possibility.

This fifth weekly chart sees cycle wave b as a flat correction.

If cycle wave b is a flat correction, then within it primary wave B must retrace a minimum 0.9 length of primary wave A at 1,079.13 or below. The most common length of B waves within flats is from 1 to 1.38 times the length of the A wave. The target calculated would see primary wave B end within this range.

Primary wave B may be subdividing as a regular flat correction, and within it both intermediate waves (A) and (B) subdivide as three wave structures. Intermediate wave (B) fits as a triple zigzag.

I have only seen two triple zigzags before during my 10 years of daily Elliott wave analysis. If this wave count turns out to be correct, this would be the third. The rarity of this structure is identified on the chart.

FIFTH DAILY CHART

Gold Elliott Wave Chart Daily 2018
Click chart to enlarge.

Minor wave 1 may have been a relatively brief impulse over at the low of the 8th of February. Thereafter, minor wave 2 may be an incomplete double combination.

The first structure in the double may be a zigzag labelled minute wave w. The double may be joined by a three in the opposite direction, a zigzag labelled minute wave x. The second structure in the double may be an incomplete running triangle labelled minute wave y. This structure may yet take some weeks to complete. In my experience a double combination with a triangle for minute wave y is not very common. This reduces the probability of this wave count, but it remains valid.

This wave count is a good solution for this bearish wave count. All subdivisions fit and there are no rare structures so far within intermediate wave (C).

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

WEEKLY CHART

Gold Weekly 2018
Click chart to enlarge. Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

Gold is within a small consolidation with resistance about 1,365 to (final) 1,375 and strong support about 1,310 to 1,305. Volume suggests an upwards breakout is more likely than downwards.

Last week has a long lower wick deep in support. The long wick again suggests a bounce here, particularly as it is at strong support.

The bearish signal last week from On Balance Volume is weak, because the line is not very long held and has a reasonable slope, but it is however a bearish signal to consider. The line was tested at least three times before, so it does have some weak technical significance.

The bottom line is price remains range bound. The longer price is range bound, the stronger and more violent the breakout movement will be when support or resistance is broken.

DAILY CHART

Gold Daily 2018
Click chart to enlarge. Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

Gold is within a consolidation that began back on about the 3rd of January. This consolidation is delineated by resistance about 1,360 to 1,365 and support about 1,310 to 1,300. It is the upwards days of the 15th of January and the 11th of April that have strongest volume. This strongly suggests an upwards breakout may be more likely than downwards.

Price has found support. Bullish divergence with Stochastics while it is oversold is clear. With a few long lower wicks and support about the 200 day moving average, it looks like Gold has found a low.

Volume today shows some decline from the last two days, but it is still stronger than the last several days. Although the short term volume profile is judged to be bearish, it is only very slightly bearish. If tomorrow completes an upwards day and shows support from volume, this would change to fairly bullish.

It is possible that lows may again be tested, but expect very strong support in the zone 1,310 – 1,300.

GDX WEEKLY CHART

GDX Weekly 2018
Click chart to enlarge. Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

Support about 20.80 has been tested about eight times and so far has held. The more often a support area is tested and holds, the more technical significance it has.

In the first instance, expect this area to continue to provide support. Only a strong downwards day, closing below support and preferably with some increase in volume, would constitute a downwards breakout from the consolidation that GDX has been in for a year now.

Resistance is about 25.50. Only a strong upwards day, closing above resistance and with support from volume, would constitute an upwards breakout.

Overall, a slow upwards swing may be underway. Do not expect it to move in a straight line; it may have downwards weeks within it.

The short term volume profile remains bearish. Look out for a pullback within the upwards swing.

GDX DAILY CHART

GDX Daily 2018
Click chart to enlarge. Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

On trading triangles from Dhalquist and Kirkpatrick, page 319:

“The ideal situation for trading triangles is a definite breakout, a high trading range within the triangle, an upward-sloping volume trend during the formation of the triangle, and especially a gap on the breakout. These patterns seem to work better with small-cap stocks in a rising market.

Although triangles are plentiful, their patterns suffer from many false and premature breakouts. This requires that a very strict breakout rule be used, either a wide filter or a number of closes outside the breakout zone. It also requires a close protective stop at the breakout level in case the breakout is false. Once these defensive levels have been exceeded, and price is on its way, the trader can relax for a little while because the failure rate after a legitimate breakout is relatively low. Trailing stops should then be placed at each preceding minor reversal.

…. in symmetrical triangles, the best performance comes from late breakouts in the 73% – 75% distance.

Volume on the breakout seems more desirable in symmetrical triangles.”

In this case, the breakout has come 61% of the triangle length from base to cradle. Volume towards the end of the triangle declined. The breakout is accompanied by a gap and has good support from volume.

Pullbacks occur 59% of the time for symmetrical triangles.

It looks like the pullback may be over. Price found support.

On Balance Volume gives a clear bullish signal with a break above resistance. This signal is reasonable as this resistance line is long held and tested many times. But it is not very strong because it has been broken once and has a reasonable slope. This could turn out to be another false signal.

It should also be noted that since the 28th of February On Balance Volume has been overall rising, which is bullish. On Balance Volume has made a new high above the high of the 19th of April, but price has not. This is also bullish.

GDX continues to look more clearly bullish than Gold at this stage.

Published @ 10:31 p.m. EST.