|

Gold Price Analysis: XAU/USD faces critical resistance at $1,718 after the NFP – Confluence Detector

Gold has been on the back foot after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell seemed reluctant to intervene and lower bond yields. Higher returns on US debt make the yieldless precious metal less attractive to investors. However, markets seem to have stabilized after US Nonfarm Payrolls rose by 379,000. 

In the meantime, here is how XAU/USD is positioned on the charts.

The Technical Confluences Detector is showing that gold faces some resistance at around $1,700. Apart from being a round number, that level is also the convergence of the Bollinger Band one-day Lower, the Simple Moving Average 100-15m, the previous 4h-high, and the BB 1h-Upper. 

Critical resistance awaits at $1,718, which is a cluster of lines including the Pivot Point one-day Resistance 1, the previous monthly low, and the SMA 100-1h. 

Support awaits at $1,691, which is the confluence of the previous daily low, the PP one-week S1, and the previous 4h-low. 

Further down, the downside target is $1,673, which is the meeting point of the PP one-month S1 and the PP one-day S2.  

XAU/USD resistance and support levels

Confluence Detector

The Confluence Detector finds exciting opportunities using Technical Confluences. The TC is a tool to locate and point out those price levels where there is a congestion of indicators, moving averages, Fibonacci levels, Pivot Points, etc. Knowing where these congestion points are located is very useful for the trader, and can be used as a basis for different strategies.

Learn more about Technical Confluence

Author

Yohay Elam

Yohay Elam

FXStreet

Yohay is in Forex since 2008 when he founded Forex Crunch, a blog crafted in his free time that turned into a fully-fledged currency website later sold to Finixio.

More from Yohay Elam
Share:

Markets move fast. We move first.

Orange Juice Newsletter brings you expert driven insights - not headlines. Every day on your inbox.

By subscribing you agree to our Terms and conditions.

Editor's Picks

EUR/USD bounces toward 1.1750 as US Dollar loses strength

EUR/USD returned to the 1.1750 price zone in the American session on Friday, despite falling Wall Street, which indicates risk aversion. Trading conditions remain thin following the New Year holiday and ahead of the weekend, with the focus shifting to US employment and European data scheduled for next week.

GBP/USD nears 1.3500, holds within familiar levels

After testing 1.3400 on the last day of 2025, GBP/USD managed to stage a rebound. Nevertheless, the pair finds it difficult to gather momentum and trades with modest intraday gains at around 1.3490 as market participants remain in holiday mood.

Gold trims intraday gains, approaches $4,300

Gold retreated sharply from the $4,400  area and trades flat for the day in the $4,320 price zone. Choppy trading conditions exacerbated the intraday decline, although XAU/USD bearish case is out of the picture, considering growing expectations for a dovish Fed and persistent geopolitical tensions.

Cardano gains early New Year momentum, bulls target falling wedge breakout

Cardano kicks off the New Year on a positive note and is extending gains, trading above $0.36 at the time of writing on Friday. Improving on-chain and derivatives data point to growing bullish interest, while the technical outlook keeps an upside breakout in focus.

Economic outlook 2026-2027 in advanced countries: Solidity test

After a year marked by global economic resilience and ending on a note of optimism, 2026 looks promising and could be a year of solid economic performance. In our baseline scenario, we expect most of the supportive factors at work in 2025 to continue to play a role in 2026.

Crypto market outlook for 2026

Year 2025 was volatile, as crypto often is.  Among positive catalysts were favourable regulatory changes in the U.S., rise of Digital Asset Treasuries (DAT), adoption of AI and tokenization of Real-World-Assets (RWA).