After experiencing a year of extraordinary volatility during 2013 the gold miners have turned downright dormant during the past few weeks:

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GDX_Daily_5.20.2014_001

For 9 consecutive trading sessions the GDX has traded within less than a 2% intraday range and for the past two months GDX has remained well contained within a 10% trading range.

This is the lowest realized volatility on record for the Gold Miners ETF:

GDX_7-year

The natural ebb & flow of the market cycle results in transitions from periods of high volatility to periods of low volatility and back again. The current period of ultra-low volatility in the gold miners is sure to eventually give way to a large directional move - the descending triangle which has formed during the past couple of months might offer some clues as to which direction this sector is headed next:

GDX

A breakdown below ~$23.25 would indicate that a move down to the December 2013 lows could be in store for the gold miners.