Regarding buying physical gold…obviously the smart money inside and outside this forum is bullish on gold LONG-TERM; however, early on in this forum at least two separate “camps” emerged as to WHEN it is best to start placing long bets in anticipation of the BIG move in gold pricing.

One camp decided to buy gold early and hold looking for that big move. I recall that over six months ago some in that camp were already buying significant amounts of gold (and holding it). And in some cases they paid $900 or more per ounce.

A second camp believed that at least for the short-term (read: during the emerging chaos of the financial crisis into the deflationary pressures of the recession, prior to the dollar collapsing) gold would be somewhat unpredictable on pricing (and yet still trade within a narrow band).

The second camp also believed that those same short-term market forces would create far more lucrative opportunities for making money in other areas such as the incredible index volatility offering one-in-lifetime chance to make big money on futures, options on the indexes. Also we had the anticipated crash in oil prices that could be shorted. Not that the second camp wasn’t willing to make some money on quick in/out trades on gold, but the second camp wasn’t YET ready to buy and HOLD gold looking for the BIG move in gold.

Now I claim that thus far the second camp has been proven right, and some of us in the second camp have made really good money by staying out of gold and instead trading the incredible volatility the stocks markets have offered.

Now the Million Dollar Question is WHEN will gold start its anticipated ascent to stratospheric heights?

I don’t really know..but I’m starting to get the instinct that now is time to JUMP into gold at the next entry point ($710/ounce ?) and finally at last buy to hold it long; otherwise, I might just miss out on that big move.