Another day another beating for gold. The yellow metal fell another 3.5% overnight bringing it to prices unseen for almost three years. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) is now down over 25% year-to-date as retail investors find themselves on the wrong side of what is suddenly looking like one of the great boom-bust cycles in precious metal history.
As for what's driving the plummet, MercBloc president Dan Dicker says it's all about Main Street coming to the sudden realization that there is no safety whatsoever in gold. "When the retail customer gets frightened, they get frightened in a hurry and they get frightened for big numbers," Dicker says in the attached clip.
Retail investors are scared for good reasons. Gold is an investment that should have worked when the inflation which was supposed to run rampant due to currency devaluation kicked into high gear. As the inflation thesis gets debunked gold is getting mercilessly hammered. There just isn't a compelling fundamental reason to own gold and the chart is broken. The only thing left to do is hope and panic; usually in that order.
Dicker makes the point that the GLD, as a massive ETF, is forced to buy and sell physical gold holdings as the size of the fund fluctuates. When sellers start dumping the GLD it forces banks to go into the market and sell physical gold into a weak market. The result is what Dicker calls a "cyclical death spiral" that makes calling a bottom an exercise in futility.
Those looking to buy the dip in gold are fighting the trend, a tide of so called "weak-hand" sellers and a broken fundamental investment thesis. The market doesn't give out badges for bravery; hundreds of years of gold trading history suggests there are better places to put your money right now.
