From a very young age, humans are somehow intrinsically aware of the value and precious nature of gold. It has long held a special place of significance in our society, both as currency and as an adornment meant to please the eye and communicate a status symbol. It's important for people to realize that although the paper money you carry around in your pocket (most likely in the form of credit and debit cards) no longer has pieces of gold backing it up in the federal reserve, gold investing still holds a great deal of promise for savvy traders.

Those that are interested in the potential profits of gold investing would do well to conduct a little bit of research about the history of this commodity and the way that its value has changed over the past century. Since the beginning of our country, gold has always been accepted as the highest form of currency. From the time that Roosevelt was president during the Great Depression until the day in the 1970s that President Richard Nixon removed the country from the gold standard; the value of an ounce of gold held steady at $35 per ounce. Following the decision to take the country off of the gold standard, investors saw this valuation increase dramatically, so much so that prices in the 1980s sometimes topped $800 per ounce.

Gold investing demands that a trader be both patient and knowledgeable about monitoring the stock charts and constantly watching for the best time to buy and sell this commodity. If you follow the practice of technical analysis, you'll agree that watching the price movements for gold over time will allow you to start to detect patterns and trends that can relay valuable information about what's likely to happen to commodity values in the future.

It's not always true with all stocks or commodities, but with gold investing it's very important to monitor inter-market relationships. Those committed to successful trading of the gold commodity should spend a great deal of time watching the value of the euro as well as the U.S. dollar index. By watching foreign currencies, as well as keeping an eye on the crude oil prices around the world, traders will be alerted to any early clues about gold's trending action. You might think that these markets are unrelated to the valuation of gold, but they can actually give you important clues about whether the gold's value is likely to drop or increase in the future.