‎After gold peaked in January 1980 at $850.00 per ounce, it dropped in price by two-thirds (66%) over the next five years. The low in February 1985 was $284.00 per ounce.

At that point it began a strong move upwards over a three-year span peaking at just under $500.00 ($499.75) per ounce in December 1987. That translates to an increase of seventy-six percent.

The advance was solid and well-defined. Those who had been waiting for the price of gold to go back up were confirmed fundamentally and technically. Or so they thought.

With the “clear, technical confirmations” of a “new, bull market in gold” came a deluge of predictions regarding $1,000.00 gold and higher. At the time that would have marked a nearly four-fold increase from its previous  low of $284.00. (That equates similarly to today’s predictions of $4000.00 gold assuming that $1040.00 was the low in December 2015.)

It was not to be. In January 1988, gold began a long an arduous decline which lasted fifteen years. Trading in gold was confined to a range between $300-400.00 per ounce for the next ten years. Subsequently, gold broke down through $300.00 per ounce and traded as low as $252.00 per ounce in September 1999. From its temporary peak at $500.00 per ounce to its ultimate low of $252.00 per ounce, gold’s price dropped fifty percent.

Even after reaching its ultimate low of $252.00 per ounce in September 1999, gold continued to trade mostly at under $300.00 per ounce for almost three more years (April 2002).

Let’s see how this compares to more recent history regarding gold.

From its peak in September 2011 at $1895.00 per ounce, gold declined to $1040.00 per ounce over a period of four and one-half years. Subsequent to that, gold’s price increased by almost thirty percent to $1363.00 per ounce in a period of seven months. Almost fifteen months later, gold has not traded any higher.

Question No. 1: Are we in the midst of a three-year period similar to that which occurred between 1985-88 (with respect to the price of gold)?