I find it rather intiguing how high many on this forum believe/see the POG going in the future whether that be next month or two years from now. Intriguing because I believe it to be only a small, no minute percentage of investors have held physical gold from the lows of only a few years ago.
History shows us that during the bull market of January 1980 very few actually bought physical gold for US$35 in say 1970 then held and sold at the climax of US$850 in 1980. It would not be unreasonable to believe that most buyers bought and sold on the way up, long before the peak?
In reality the liklihood is that many more investors were "sucked in" much closer to the peak of US$850.
My point is this, the real winners in the market of 1980 and in my opinion now are the ones selling not buying.
Remember folks gold pays you no income and generally incurs you storage costs in some shape or form.
In the two decades following 1980 the cost of living doubled in the United States for example while the POG fell by more than 60%!! In January 1980 one ounce of gold could buy you a basket of goods/services worth US$. In 1999 however that same basket would cost you five ounces of gold!!
The lower the POG fell the grater the prospect of gold sales by the US and others including the IMF. As the POG rose from US$375oz in 1982 to almost US$500oz post the 1987 stockmarket crash few "official" sales occurred. However as the price drifted lower history shows us that 500 tonnes were sold in 1992 @ around US$350oz then from 1992 until 1999 as the price drifted towards US$300oz central bankers sold a total of 3,000 tonnes.
I just wonder when the music stops who's going to trigger the selloff that as history shows us, will ensure it's like a domino effect and once again the emporer is revealed as wearing no clothes??