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Market update: XAU/USD flirts with breakout as retail traders turn more bearish

Gold prices climbed for another day, while retail traders turn more bearish and investors ponder an XAU/USD trendline breakout.

Source: Bloomberg

Gold sentiment outlook - bullish

Gold prices have rallied for a couple of trading sessions and retail traders have responded by increasing their downside exposure. This can be seen by looking at IG Client Sentiment (IGCS), which often functions as a contrarian indicator. With that in mind, will an increasing shift in retail exposure offer a warm welcome for the yellow metal?

The IGCS gauge shows that about 70% of retail traders are net-long gold. Since the majority of them are biased to the upside, this still could spell trouble for gold down the road. That said, downside exposure has increased by 9.49% and 3.59% compared to yesterday and last week, respectively. With that in mind, recent changes in exposure hint that the price trend may soon reverse higher.

IG Client Sentiment chart

Source: DailyFX

Gold technical analysis

On the daily chart, recent gains have pushed gold prices to flirt confirming a breakout above the falling trendline from May. Immediate resistance is the 1936.90 inflection point. A push above that exposes the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level of 1971.63, opening the door to an increasingly bullish technical bias.

Otherwise, a false breakout places the focus back on the 38.2% point around 1903.46 before exposing the August swing low of 1884.37. Confirming a breakout under the latter opens the door to extending the downtrend since May.

XAU/USD daily chart

Source: TradingView

This information has been prepared by DailyFX, the partner site of IG offering leading forex news and analysis. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients.

This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Australia Pty Ltd. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients.

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