doraemon

Sure, I agree. Personally, I also think the inflation-adjusted value of the last spike might offer some clue as to where we might be headed. But to put things into perspective: two decades after that spike in the 80s, gold was back below $300, and that's not much in 80s $, is it? All things being equal, speculators need to cash in at some point. But that's just my personal opinion, as you say...

Actually, I'm not bitter. Why would I, given gold's performance? But I just wanted to point out that herd sentiment is an important indicator of tops (like we saw quite recently in the housing market). *If* this is not the end of the world, then we *might* be near a top. I'm not making any calls, merely pointing out analogies...

Totally agree, we're getting closer to the top. Unless we see a total collapse of the $ and the paper currency system this could be just another cycle. Colleague at work told me yesterday that Platinum and gold were up "a hell of a lot." I think we might be entering tbe blow-off stage. I reckon that the final, irrational burst is still ahead of us, though. When the office mates that bought houses in the last year or two (because house prices only ever go up, obviously) tell each other how much money they've just made on their gold, then I'll sell...