Now wasn’t that exhilarating!  Not only did the futures exceed the 1361.10 benchmark we’ve been fixated on for weeks, they did so on a day when crude oil was getting savaged and stocks were going nowhere.  Clearly, gold has a mind of its own these days — and with it the energy to forge steadily higher.  The most encouraging thing about the rally from New Year’s Eve’s low is that it has yet to correct on the weekly chart (see inset). Which means that the surge has a chance to exceed a third prior peak at 1430.20 before taking a breather. That would increase the odds that we are seeing the nascent stage of a powerful bull market, notwithstanding the fact that Silver has lagged the move.

Pivoteers looking for an opportune spot to board should use the 30-minute chart to identify usable impulse legs.  Keep in mind that our goal when trading this vehicle is to limit theoretical entry risk to no more than five ticks per contract.  In practice, that implies zooming down to perhaps the 1-minute bar chart or less to find tiny entry patterns with commensurately tiny initial risk.