Gold Price Forecast: $1,880's are just another Russian invasion risk-off headline away

• Gold bulls stampede towards critical resistance on the heightened risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. 
• US Federal Reserve will aggressively hike rates in coming months. 

The price of gold rallied to the highest level since November 16 on Monday on growing worries about Russia-Ukraine tensions despite the call from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard for faster US Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. XAU/USD reached $1,874 on Monday in afternoon trading in the New York session, extending its gains from last week's close. 

The markets are on high alert as the tensions surrounding the Russian military build up on the border of Ukraine is raising the probabilities of an imminent attack. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Ukrainians to fly the country's flags from buildings and sing the national anthem in unison on Feb. 16, a date some Western media have cited as the possible start of a Russian invasion.

However, the comments were interpreted as if the president of Ukraine had been officially informed that Wednesday would be the day of the attack. This led to a bout of risk-off in markets but Ukrainian officials said Zelenskiy was not predicting an attack on that date, but instead responding with scepticism to foreign media reports. Washington had said Russia could invade Ukraine "any day now," and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday called the situation "very, very dangerous." 

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply worried about "increased speculation" about a military conflict and has urged world leaders to step up diplomacy to calm the situation.

Gold technical analysis

As per the pre-open forecast for the week ahead, Gold, The Chart of the Week: $1,880's are eyed as last defence for continued upside, the $1,880's are calling the bulls as follows:

Gold, daily chart, prior analysis

Gold, live market

Typically, the price would be expected to correct at this juncture, but the ATR on the weekly chart is around $46.00 and it is early days in the week still. Gold has rallied $23.00 so far, so there is still room for higher.