However, gold price gains may have been capped Thursday after data showed U.S. inflation was well below the Fed’s target. The metal has typically been used as an inflation-hedge and safe store of wealth.
Some gold traders, though, remain skeptical. Without a defined or clear Fed interest rate hike schedule, gold can still experience volatility from rate hike speculations.
“Considering that the Fed has consistently over-estimated U.S. growth, and considering that they don’t have much of a buffer between current expectations and a negative growth number, there is plenty of room for a surprise to the downside,” Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter, said in the MarketWatch article. The “best thing for gold bulls may be to get the first rate hike out of the way” as the “ongoing when/if speculation only gives the speculators excuses to short the metal.”
Consequently, traders who want to hedge any further downside risk can still utilize inverse or short gold ETF options. For example, the ProShares UltraShort Gold (NYSEArca: GLL) provides a two times inverse, or -200%, daily performance of gold bullion. The Direxion Daily Gold Bear 3X Shares (NYSEArca: BARS) reflects the daily -300% daily performance of gold.
Alternatively, ETN options include the PowerShares DB Gold Double Short ETN (NYSEArca: DZZ), which tries to generate the twice inverse, or -200%, return of the daily performance of gold, PowerShares DB Gold Short ETN (NYSEArca: DGZ), which tries to reflect the inverse of gold price movements, and VelocityShares 3x Inverse Gold ETN (NYSEArca: DGLD), which tries to reflect the performance of three times the inverse, or -300%, daily performance.
For more information on the gold market, visit our gold category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.