Volume is a favored tool by traders and technical analysts when looking to confirm breakouts or breakdowns in a security.
With that in mind, recent increases in the volume of the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF’s (NYSEArca: GDX), the largest gold miners exchange traded fund, could be a sign of more upside to come for the already high-flying fund.
“This surprising buy-like-crazy-on-gold-stock-rallies trend continued since GDX plumbed its latest major low in mid-December. As gold stocks recovered in the 7 weeks since, GDX capital volume just soared. And it’s really at incredible levels these days. In January 2015, GDX capital volume averaged $1.2b per day. That’s considerably higher than August 2011’s $0.9b, which was heading into GDX’s record high,” writes Adam Hamilton in a post on Seeking Alpha.
Prior to Friday when it sank 5.5% on heavy volume, there had ample enthusiasm for GDX and rival gold miners ETFs this year. Even with those Friday woes, fiver gold miners ETFs, including GDX and its small-cap counterpart, the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDXJ), rank among the top 10 non-leveraged ETFs year-to-date. [Bad Time for Gold ETFs]
“While GDX’s capital-volume chart is very encouraging, GDXJ’s is just shocking. It offers the most conclusive evidence I’ve yet seen that gold stocks as a sector have decisively bottomed, with a major new upleg underway as sentiment starts to shift,” adds Hamilton.