Gold Timers Are Finally Throwing in the Towel Mark Hulbert says gold traders should be encouraged by this contrarian analysis of sentiment among market timers. Author: Take heart, long-suffering gold traders: A sustainable rally is getting close. I base this forecast on a contrarian analysis of sentiment among several dozen gold market timers. Collectively, they are now more pessimistic than at almost any other time over the past two decades. In effect, these timers have constructed an incredibly high and strong Wall of Worry that a gold market rally could climb. The construction of this wall has been going on for some time, of course. Gold bullion has dropped nearly $400 an ounce since its high last August. Shares of gold mining companies have dropped even more in percentage terms: The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF GDX has dropped 29% since August.