Back in late October, some market watchers were eyeing a bold target: gold pushing past $4,100 as December approached. Fast forward to now, and those who went long on the yellow metal are sitting pretty comfortable. The trade's been paying off nicely.

What's driving this? Investors seem to be positioning themselves ahead of year-end uncertainties. Central bank buying, geopolitical jitters, and inflation concerns keep stacking up as tailwinds. Gold's showing real momentum lately—not just a dead asset sitting in vaults anymore, but genuinely tradable with decent volatility.

Anyone catching this wave is probably feeling pretty validated right about now.