Silver Price Forecast: XAG/USD retreats from one-month top, $31.00 confluence hurdle

• Silver faces rejection near the $31.00 confluence and snaps a three-day winning streak.
• Any further slide could be seen as a buying opportunity near the $30.40-$30.35 support.
• Bulls need to wait for a move beyond the trend-channel hurdle before placing fresh bets.

Silver (XAG/USD) attracts some sellers on Friday and for now, seems to have snapped a three-day winning streak to the $31.00 neighborhood, or over a one-month high touched the previous day. The white metal remains depressed through the first half of the European session and currently trades around the $30.60-$30.55 area, down 0.70% for the day. 

From a technical perspective, the recent move-up witnessed since the beginning of this month stalls near a confluence hurdle comprising the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) and the top end of a descending channel extending from a multi-year top touched in October. A sustained breakout through the said barrier should pave the way for a further near-term appreciating move for the XAG/USD.

Given that oscillators on the daily chart are holding comfortably in positive territory and are away from being in the overbought zone, the commodity might then accelerate the momentum towards the $31.70 hurdle. The subsequent move-up should allow the XAG/USD to reclaim the $32.00 round-figure mark and climb further towards testing the December monthly swing high, around the $32.30-$32.35 region. 

On the flip side, any further decline could be seen as a buying opportunity near the $30.40-$30.35 region, which, in turn, should help limit the downside near the $30.00 psychological mark. A convincing break below the latter might prompt technical selling and drag the XAG/USD towards the $29.55-$29.50 support en route to the $29.00 mark and the $28.75-$28.70 area, or a multi-month low touched in December.

XAG/USD daily chart