Practical analysis for investment professionals
18 April 2013

Poll: What Is the Primary Factor Bringing Down the Price of Gold?

In a poll conducted earlier this week in the CFA Institute Financial NewsBrief, we asked readers what was the primary factor in the recent decline in gold prices.


What is the primary factor bringing the price of gold to its recent sell-off level of $1,400?
Poll: What is the primary factor bringing the price of gold to its recent sell-off level of $1,400?


In this week’s poll, 30% of the 1,211 respondents chose the response “many large holders have announced their intent to sell,” in line with what was reported about the Central Bank of Cyprus, George Soros, and others, whereas nearly the same proportion believe that the list of factors in the poll does not include what they consider the primary factor for the sell-off.

Indeed, the cause of this sell-off, the largest in 30 years, appears to be quite complex, with most of the sell action in the COMEX, where 400 metric tons ($20 billion) were sold within a matter of hours, while reported physical gold demand remained robust, especially in Asia. Some linked to gold price crash to the sell-off in the Japanese bond market, while others attributed the drop to an orchestrated bear raid. For more background and analysis, see the blog posts:

Tell us what you think by adding your comments at the bottom of the blog post.


Please note that the content of this site should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the

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About the Author(s)
Samuel Lum, CFA

Samuel Lum, CFA, was director of Private Wealth and Capital Markets at CFA Institute, where he focused on wealth management and capital markets, mainly in an Asia-Pacific context.

3 thoughts on “Poll: What Is the Primary Factor Bringing Down the Price of Gold?”

  1. Dhruv Chopra says:

    I think the recent downslide of the gold price is a temporary/short-lived event and this phase would not last long.

  2. Vinay Jain says:

    I agree with Dhruv, because if money is moving out from Gold than it move in somewhere. As people are increasing putting the bets on revival of major economies, than I think the Dollar shall appreciate and hence in Rupee terms the fall in Gold will be limited.
    (I am taking the view from the perspective of Indian Markets)

    1. Sam Lum says:

      Thank you for your comments. You have proven to be prescient as gold has stayed at the 1300 to 1400 range since it’s big correction. Interesting question is where do we go from here?

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