The precious metal plunged intraday to the $1,830-price level before clawing back some downside. It appears that gold prices have been largely mirroring the direction of the US Dollar, which has found a fresh bid owing to the influx of risk aversion and demand for safe-haven currencies. Gold and the US Dollar typically move in opposite direction of one another.

Meanwhile, the precious metal has been oscillating between two converging trend-lines over the past one-week or so. The range-bound price action now seemed to constitute the formation of a symmetrical triangle, which often marks a continuation of the prior trend.

Given the sharp pullback from monthly tops, around the $1,960 region touched on January 6, the near-term bias remains in favour of the bear traders. That said, the direction of the next major move can only be determined after the occurrence of a valid breakout. Hence, any dip towards the triangle support, currently near the $1,842 region, is more likely to attract some buying. Some follow-through selling will mark a bearish breakdown and drag the XAU/USD back towards last week's swing lows, around the $1,800 mark.

On the flip side, the top boundary of the mentioned triangle, around the $1,865 area, might act as immediate strong resistance. This is followed by the $1,872, above which a bout of short-covering could push the XAU/USD closer to the $1,900 round-figure.