part of what drove the POG to 251 in 1999/2000 was that forward orders accepted lower and lower prices (and POG is like any positive feedback loop), add to that margin calls and many producers realised that they could hedge themselves into bankruptcy (like averaging down a losing stock position)
once the sell trend is underway, mechanical weight is added to the trend + money managers are trend followers so they'll open sell positions....
what fundamentalists argue works in their favour works against them, too
some A-ha moments where "investors" who thought QE/inflation would bring high(er) prices are getting out and where "investors" thought taking QE away would reverse the trend to up are getting out ......so hard to have your cake and eat it too ......doesn't matter if there's deflation/inflation/stagflation/screwflation ....none of them can fight the trend sentiment once it kicks in and the "investors' have had ample time to use all their reasoning....even as prices began to fly downhill people like Jim Sinclaire are arguing to hold and buy more, while people in Asia rush out to pay full retail for jewellery that instantly lost 50% of its value upon receiving the receipt
again, this particular auction process merely serves to prove that emotional logic drives price no matter who the bid/offer comes from
of course, the question is who is soaking up that selling? mostly it'll be the large commercials....even so, price can gap and fall on low volume, so waiting for price to swing to exit at a better price might not work either....the train has left the station
on the upside, for traders, the sudden squeezes will provide plenty of price length to play......booyah
Who sells gold? I do not know, but probably, all these sales come from Western central banks ... maybe it's the Fed that wants to move down the price to buy gold back and return it to Germany.