There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.- Arthur Schopenhauer

Gold bottomed in 2002, and it took nine years for its trade to a high of roughly $1900 (September 2011). Contrast that to Bitcoin, in less than 1/3^rd of the amount of time it is showing gains of more than 11,000%.  It took nine years for Gold to show gains of roughly 700% and Gold has given up a substantial portion of those gains.

We bailed out of Gold in 2011 for two reasons:

 Only those from the hard money camp continued to believe that Gold was a currency,  but sadly their numbers are dwindling with the passage of each day. The masses view Bitcoin as cool and secure; a feat Gold has struggled to achieve and is not likely to achieve in the foreseeable future.  Whether this is true or not, hardly matters for when it comes to investing, perceptions are all that matter.

Does this mean the precious metals sector is dead?

Well, that depends on what one means by dead. Gold has performed abysmally since (it topped out)  2011.The money supply soared, and Gold tanked, not exactly a good sign. In doing the opposite of what was expected from it, Gold cemented the view that it was an ancient relic that has no place in today’s monetary system. We are speaking in terms of Mass Perception. What we think, matters not; we follow trends, and we don’t waste time trying to look at things from a personal vantage point.There are many reasons for Gold’s underperformance after 2011; one of them was the “velocity of the money supply” which all but stalled after 2011. However, the masses don’t waste time on details like this. They look for simple cause and effect answers. Money supply soared, Gold did nothing, and hence Gold is a waste of time.A bit simplistic but that’s the mass mindset for you.  However, looking forward some factors could limit Gold’s lustre