Gold Bull Climaxes?

On the pure size front, the 1970s bull utterly dwarfs our latest one.  In real terms gold rocketed 1082% higher between January 1970 and January 1980.  In the misleading nominal terms gold bulls love to cite, this was a staggering 2332% gain!  But our current bull isn't even half this size yet.  In real terms it was only up 478% between April 2001 and August 2011, which was merely 640% in nominal terms.   The main reason our latest bull is less than half the size of its predecessor is there has been no popular speculative mania yet.  While gold's excellent secular-bull gains have gradually won over investors, they've yet to become enamored with it.  Nor has the general public that fueled the NASDAQ's parabolic secular-bull climax in early 2000.  Gold simply hasn't become a universal market darling yet. ... Between gold's major low in mid-1976 to that ultimate peak, a whopping 3/4ths of this run's total gains happened in just its final 5 months! Such extreme lopsidedness is the mark of a parabolic ascent. When a price soars so vertically that gains seen in mere months utterly dwarf those of the preceding years, a popular speculative mania is afoot. There is never a fundamental justification for such big and fast gains... A bull-ending parabolic ascent needs to rocket far enough and fast enough to ensure the lion's share of multi-year gains accrue in a matter of months. ... Without the necessary psychological conclusion parabolic blowoffs cap secular bulls with, sentiment will generally remain bullish. After any normal topping that isn't driven by an extreme popular speculative mania, plenty of buyers rush in to reestablish positions when they think the correction has run its course. Secular bull markets really can't climax without the extreme psychological whipsawing of the parabolic blowoff and subsequent collapse. It shatters bull psychology.