XAU/USD Approaches Key Chart Levels

Gold Price Technical Forecast – Neutral

XAU/USD remains in a descending channel after failure to breach resistance
1830 and 1850 levels look key for price action in the week ahead
38.2% Fibonacci may provide a base for bulls to retake longer-term trend

Gold eked out a 0.04% gain in the second week of December as prices rebounded from the psychologically important 1830 level after pitching below 1850 on a rejection from descending channel resistance. Now, XAU/USD approaches longer-term technical levels that may increasingly influence price action in the week ahead.

The most recent move lower followed a late November rally from descending channel support. Gold remains vulnerable to bearish influence within the pattern. Still, Shorter-term momentum appears more neutral with the 20- and 50-day Simple Moving Averages (SMA) moderating, and a neutral ranging RSI. The 1830-1850 range will likely be key levels to break for any directional shifts to occur.

Gold 6- Hour Chart

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Zooming out to the daily timeframe highlights technical areas beyond the 1830-1850 range. The rising 200-day SMA and inflection from the 1808-1824 range may offer a degree of confluent support to stifle any short-term selling pressure. A break lower, however, will look for a test of trendline support formed from the 2020 lows before November’s multi-month swing low (1764.73) comes into view.

Conversely, the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the March-August move appears to be providing the most immediate support. A move higher will aim to break through descending channel resistance that would signal a shift back to gold’s longer-term bullish trend. Overall, the near-term and approaching technical levels could provide traders actionable movement, but the 1830 and 1850 price levels look key before moving further.