Can You Say Goldilox is Soaring?? Flight to Safety? This Shiny Metal is Hott in January!! Gold Options Honey? By: Tim Bolger

Who does not love Gold?? Well, maybe not everyone because it does not pay a dividend to investors.  But, I love this shiny metal!! Like Gold or not, it has been a big winner for many investors over the past few years and has provided alot of alpha to investment portfolios that would have otherwise suffered severely from high exposure to financial stocks, the sovereign debt crisis, volatile global stock markets and high unemployment around the globe.

We all know that thus far, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has involved printing way too many U.S. dollars to fight this recession, has kept the Federal Funds Rate at historic lows, and the result has been a very weak U.S. dollar… I translate the current economic scenario as one that makes me want to buy lots of Goldlilox!! I love gold coins and love owning the Gld.  Getting long exposure to Gold is easiest to get with the Gld (SPDR Gold Trust).  Gold hit a high of over $1,900 per ounce in 2011 and then got hammered along with several other precious metals in the month of Dec 2011. Gold fell close to $1,500 an ounce…that was painful for many Gold bulls in the money of Dec and led them to flee to the sidelines, many of which were forced to sell because of big margin calls on this commodity. Margin gives you great leverage at times, but it is very risky for volatile commodities in the short and long run…Margin calls can wipe you out of cash and trading on Margin is not recommended for many retail or institutional investors.

The sharp sell off in Gold in the month of Dec 2011 spooked alot of Gold bugs out of this shiny precious metal. Was the massive gold sell off just a huge head fake or is the bull run in Gold over?!…I think it was more of a short term correction in the shiny yellow metal…the sell off I believe was further exacerbated by lots of profit taking, margin calls and a short term phenomena. I am a firm believer in owing Gold for the long term and as a means to protect wealth…I believe Gold is a great safe haven from all of the macro-economic uncertainty prevailing around the globe!! Gold protects us against a weak global equity market and a weak U.S. dollar(which means high inflation).  Gold is a great hedge against major global economic issues(eg sovereign debt crisis in Europe), but I also believe that Gold can still run to $2,100 an ounce even if the global equity markets continue to move higher…Over the past 3 weeks we have seen Gold spike higher and I think the Gold train continues to run higher baby!!

Options trade#1: Yahoofinance Gld Jun 15, 2012 Options chain: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/op?s=GLD&m=2012-06.  I would consider buying the Gld 165 Jun 15, 2012 Call Options for $6.00 a contract. 5 contracts will cost me $3,000 plus trading fees and get me long exposure to Gold(500 shares of the Gld SPDR Gold Trust at $165 a share). If Gld trades to 175 before this options’ expiration date, this trade will be worth $5,000+. Take a look at the yahoofinance chart below on the Gld. Gld has moved significantly higher after being crushed in the month of December and I believe the longer term trend is to the upside. Good luck longs and remember that this is just a hypothetical scenario for everyone. Consult your financial advisor before making any trades…see the Optionshoney disclaimer. Options trading is not for all investors and is very risky!! Do not play if you cannot afford to lose all of your money invested in the contracts you may decide to purchase. Optionshoney  disclaimer.

The more conservative play is just buying these lovely American Eagle Gold Coins exhibited below and hold them forever!! Several other Gold Coins and Gold Bars are available for purchase from vendors such as Monex.com. Photo is courtesy of http://www.monex.com: