Gold has most certainly been in an impressive uptrend for the last 15 years. However, during 2012, gold has been absent the physical demand driver and, even though its price has risen modestly, the trend has not been as linear as in prior years.

In this feature we resume our special piece on the major shakeouts in the last 100 years including Friday the 13th mini-crash of 1989, the October 27 1997 mini-crash, the 9/11 aftermath crash of 2001, the 2008 Great Financial Crisis crash, and finally the curious phenomenon of the 2010 flash crash.