Silver Price Analysis: XAG/USD clings to gains below mid-$23.00s, bearish potential intact

Silver regained positive traction on the first day of a new week and recovered a major part of Friday's slide to sub-$23.00 levels, or the lowest level since October 14. The white metal maintained its bid tone through the first half of the European session and was last seen trading just below mid-$23.00s, up nearly 1% for the day.

Looking at the broader picture, the recent sharp retracement slide from the vicinity of mid-$25.00s stalled near support marked by the 61.8% Fibonacci level of the $21.42-$25.41 strong move up. This should now act as a key pivotal point for short-term traders, which if broken decisively should pave the way for further near-term losses.

Given last week's sustained break below the 100-day SMA and an ascending channel confluence support, the bias seems tilted firmly in favour of bearish traders. The negative outlook for the XAG/USD is reinforced by bearish technical indicators on the daily chart, which are still far from being in the oversold territory.

Hence, any subsequent positive move towards the $23.70-75 region might still be seen as a selling opportunity and remain capped near the $24.00 confluence breakpoint. The latter coincides with the 38.2% Fibo. level, which if cleared could shift the bias in favour of bulls and push the XAG/USD to the $24.45-50 region (23.6% Fibo. level).

On the flip side, the $23.10-$23.00 area might now protect the immediate downside. A convincing break below will reaffirm the bearish bias and turn the XAG/USD vulnerable. The next relevant support is pegged near the $22.70-65 region, below which the commodity could eventually drop to test the $22.30-25 support en-route the $22.00 mark.

Silver daily chart

Technical levels to watch