Reason No. 2 to avoid gold: Gold prices are easily manipulated


Reason #2 to avoid gold: Gold prices are easily manipulatedOne thing I am very afraid of with gold is manipulation.

Unlike paper currency that is impossible to manipulate in any way, gold can be accumulated by a group of connected buyers for the sole purpose of eliminating supply from the market. A successful cornering of the market can result in volatile swings in price. Unsuspecting buyers acquire bullion at higher prices only to see a flood of supply hit the market resulting in damaging price collapse.

This is exactly what transpired in the 1980s in the silver market. The Hunt brothers did just that with the use of leverage at a time of minimal margin requirements on commodities exchanges.

Although the likelihood is low, investors should be cautious with any commodity that can be manipulated in this way. I prefer to avoid it altogether. I thinksmall-cap stocks, such as these eight picks from Louis Navellier, are a better bet.

Reason No. 3 to avoid gold.

Jamie Dlugosch is a contributor to InvestorPlace.com.

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