The Search for a Universal Bar Number

In the bullion bars database we have the signatures for about 250,000 gold bars and 800,000 silver bars. I'm at the stage now where I need a consistent referencing number — currently the unique identifiers get created fresh each time I import a major set of data, which solves a bunch of other problems but makes it difficult to permanently catalog interesting bars. If you're not into 'Barspotting' please feel free to tune out - this is another of those posts where I'm just talking out loud, trying to solve some boring questions open for discussion.

Sunday PM pre-game, 4/13/2014

 According to my benchmark chart on gold's intermediate cycles (weekly 3-line break, DJIA:GDXJ), we've had a bearish reversal, and I probably won't be long gold for awhile. However, I will wait to see confirmation on the similar chart I use for silver (GLD:GDXJ) before going short.

Now, it's true that gold is still above the 20-30-wk MA ribbon:

However, the price action looks similar to the false breakout of September 2012 (after the QE3 announcement that caught many off guard). By that, I mean a strong jump occurred above the ribbon, followed by a weak, momentum-less bounce off support that couldn't make it to the previous weekly closing high. Gold then fell to its first Fibonacci line (top blue, horizontal), and this time I bet it's headed to the second 50% Fib (center blue line)

Second, now that reader "David P. of Europe" has stolen the above chart and sold it to Eric King for 20 pieces of worthless fiat, I decided to look for a comparable monthly version, and what I found was simultaneously Astonishing and Staggering.

I don't thing Eric King will be posting this one soon, however, because it indicates that the gold bear market probably has another few years to go.

Note how important the monthly moving average ribbon has been, going way, way back (I shan't reveal the specifics, lest David P. of Europe betray me again, but here's a hint: the bounds are Fibonacci numbers). The upper bound is still well over the old line in the sand, $1525, and anyone who thinks that level won't pose serious resistance needs to remove KWN from his bookmarks posthaste. So basically, it seems probable to me that gold will first need to get to the MA ribbon (probably after the ribbon has fallen significantly lower than where it lies presently), and bump and track below it for awhile, before a legitimate Bottom is manifest.

There will be another clue: check the monthly RSI: the vertical dotted lines (white), which cycle quite regularly every 7-8 years, denote when the 50% RSI level was cleared to the upside after a break below AND the monthly MA-ribbon was cleared (surprisingly, these have generally been simultaneous events!) These points signal the tradeable Gold Bottoms exceedingly well. So we must needs wait.

[thoughts] On Predicting when Bullion will Return to GLD (premise)

[just a quick post] I've been chasing a lot of things lately, but primarily I've been trying to unlock patterns in the GLD bars list data. The 'dark bullion effect' is easy to measure but difficult to understand. Below is an infographic that I've been meaning to release regarding the 2013 calendar year. It is significant because for the most part of the year, most of the new 'additions' came from bars which had already been seen in the inventory. This is not specifically surprising by itself considering that so much had been removed, but it just demonstrates there is a really large stock of gold in London and that it doesn't necessarily all vanish instantly to China. In terms of visibility, interpreting the gold market through the ETF volumes alone is like trying to figure out how a department store operates by studying it through the retail window display.

Tuesday chart update

 A quick update to my previous post:
Last Tuesday, it looked very much like my benchmark chart on gold's intermediate cycles was going to undergo a three-line break reversal to bearish (see here), but with the rally on Friday, that didn't happen (see it in its present incarnation, below). The similar chart I use for detecting silver's intermediate phases, namely the GLD:GDXJ ratio (see below) is also still in its bull phase. So I'm not short presently: where we go from here is still very much up in the air:

Moreover, looking at my world famous 20-30 week moving average ribbon, we still are above it. 

Interestingly, Eric King, a closet Screwtape reader, recently posted the same chart, which I've been presenting for a year now (under the improbable pseudonym "David P. out of Europe").

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/King_World_News.html

Note the weekly closing price also bounced off a Fibonacci 50% line. If you're long, a line in the sand there (on a weekly closing basis) might be a good idea.

GM Jenkins calls it quits

 After many happy years of education here at ScrewTape Files University (STFU), it is with bittersweet feelings I announce that I have accepted a position elsewhere to do some other crap. I will resign my position as the Leonardo Fibonacci Professor of T&A tomorrow at close of business, and, frankly, will most likely never look at another chart again. 

See, loyal readers, I've been haunted by the suspicion for years now that this stuff is essentially worthless and--not to put too fine a point on it--adds value only to the lives of jibbering idiots and recovering schizophrenics. (Certainly not to their portfolios. . .)