Gold has been a wining trade for the month of January over the years

At the start of the month, Adam posted his regular seasonal trade views and one of them was the gold trade. As he pointed out, gold has gained 9 of the past 11 Januaries.

And so far up to today, it's gained by more than 1.25% on the month already - though it posted strong gains in the week running up to January as well (December 2017 saw it rise 2.18%).

Looking at the technical picture, the commodity has been running into resistance over the last few trading days:

The 23.6 retracement level on the daily chart has been a stubborn resistance level for buyers to break through after an impressive run up which started at the end of December.

Zooming in, buyers are still in control of the pair as the prices are staying above the 100-hour and 200-hour MA for the time being - but the pivotal level to break through remains that at $1,321.57 (the 23.6 retracement level on the daily chart).

Gold is higher on the day by 0.18% at $1,319.31 now. The high on the day ($1,321.08) is just shy of that resistance level as buyers are still looking for more conviction to push it higher.

Break above that and it's plain sailing all the way to last September highs of $1,357.61. But for now, it's a tug of war between buyers and sellers around the resistance level.