Regardless of what financial markets you follow, today you witnessed one of the most volatile days ever on record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 1600 points lower midday before recovering slightly, closing down over 1100 points on the day. Today’s price decline represents the most substantial intraday point drop for the Dow in history.

At its low today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading off by over 650 points. As of this writing at 3:15 PM Eastern standard time, the Dow is off by a little over 550 points, which is a net decline of 2.11% on the day, closing on the lows at 25,520, down 665.

The U.S. dollar continues to trade under pressure and is now at a critical support level. The dollar index has lost almost half of a percentage in value today and is currently fixed at 88.54. If the dollar continues to trade at this level, it will mark the eighth consecutive week in which it has closed below its opening price on Monday.

All technical traders, whether classically trained in Western technical analysis or Eastern technical analysis, look for specific patterns that can define pivot points or key reversals within a market.

U.S. citizens await the yearly presidential speech, the State of the Union, as U.S. equities, the U.S. dollar, and the precious metals are trading lower on the day.

Paul Volker once said that “trees don’t grow to the sky, they never have, and they never will.” He said this in reference to the dynamic U.S. equities markets which were ascending to new highs while he was chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Traders and investors that follow gold and the U.S. dollar were participants in a virtual roller coaster ride this week as conflicting versions of the current administration’s policy on the U.S. dollar surfaced.

Traders and investors were taken on a roller coaster ride in terms of price swings in both the dollar and gold markets during today’s trading session. Gold had been trading higher for the better part of the morning session, posting gains as it still had momentum from the previous day's rally.

The U.S. dollar traded under dramatic pressure today, losing almost a full percent on the lows of the day. This, of course, moved the precious metals complex to dramatically higher pricing with gold futures trading up roughly $22 on the day to close at the highest value this year.

In September of 2017 gold prices topped out at $1363 per ounce. This marked the conclusion of a dynamic rally, which began in July 2017 when gold was trading just above $1200. This $163 rally contained the largest single price move of any rally last year.