But I'm no longer front-running the charts. Now the break-out has actually occurred, as you can see. We've broken out of the pennant formations, especially convincingly with silver, which is always the more energetic of the two precious metals. We should now expect fairly rapid appreciation, just as in previous bull moves following consolidation. Upside targets are defined by previous moves.

I would expect the next top to be reached before the end of May for the typical seasonal sell-off. That means at least $2,050 gold and $50 silver, which isn't all that much higher than the previous highs. However, the next consolidation should be significantly smaller (probably a re-test of the old highs around $1,900 and $48) before we resume the next bull move, possibly to $2,500 and $75 for gold and silver, respectively, in the autumn.

I'm not sure yet how this impacts the previously delineated trajectory for our moon-shot. It's possible that the Euro troubles and subsequent capital flow into U.S. Treasuries has permanently changed that trajectory -- not the destination, just the trajectory. I'll watch what happens over the next few weeks to analyze what, if any, impact this consolidation has had on it.

We still remain in a strong up-trend which should culminate in a blow-off top, but we may have been handed a little more time before that happens. We'll see. All the fundamentals driving gold and silver higher remain intact and have only grown stronger. The U.S. government will spend another $1+ trillion in debt before the summer is out. The national debt is now well over 100% of GDP, having blown through the first debt ceiling hurdle since the August deal. Europe continues its rapid decline. And warmongering with Iran has reached a fever pitch. The upside in gold and silver against this backdrop is limitless.

I highly recommend signing up for a BullionVault account right now and loading up on as much as you can afford in their Swiss vault. You will probably never ever see gold this cheap again and will kick yourself for not taking advantage of this opportunity. As this global financial collapse progresses and fiat currencies go down the proverbial drain, physical gold and silver in your possession or in a responsible vault in a foreign jurisdiction will be your only insurance and protection.

Gold and silver mining equities are also severely oversold here. Even more so than the metals themselves. Expect company stock buybacks and mergers and acquisitions to increase. I think we definitely have a floor under stock prices at this point. Call options could leverage a spring-back in mining equities into a fortune. Although I prefer individual stocks, I won't go into specific ticker symbols here, but suggest that if you're not savvy at picking companies, using the GLDX (gold explorers) or GDXJ (junior gold miners) ETFs may be a good way to play it. But paper forms of gold and silver such as stocks should always come after a good foundation of physical ownership.

Disclosure: I am long [[GLD]], [[SLV]], [[GLDX]], [[GDXJ]].

Additional disclosure: I receive credit for referrals through BullionVault's referral program, which provides a small monetary reward. This does not impact my strong advocacy for BullionVault, which I personally use regardless.

This is the largest bullish consolidation pattern since 2008.  The "flag pole" of the pennant is approximately $400, from the previous break-out point around $1500 to the top near $1900.  The expected upside target of the next break-out should be at least an equal move, or approximately $2150 from the current $1750.  

It could also be a proportional move -- i.e. $400 was 26.7% of $1500, so 26.7% of $1750 would send gold soaring to $2217.  This would be more consistent with the exponential nature of the gold chart over the past 10 years.

The prior break-out in July/August lasted approximately one month, so we could see the next high point in early January before the next consolidation sets in.