After rising steadily for more than a decade, gold prices have been knocked off their perch.
Prices plunged to a two-year low last month, prompting investors to dump shares of gold-backed ETFs.
The April selloff pushed gold into bear market territory, with prices falling 25% from their most recent highs around $1,800 in early October.
Many analysts, including researchers at Goldman Sachs, have been warning that gold's bull run would run out of steam later this year.
While prices have rebounded recently, traders say gold is unlikely to revisit last October's highs.
One expert said many gold investors have been drawn into the stock market as the Dow and S&P 500 hit record highs this year, noting that the gold plunge in April came despite news that normally would have supported gold prices, including continued easing by global central banks.
The S&P 500 is up 13% so far this year, while gold prices have dropped nearly 13%.
In a sign of the shifting attitude toward gold, investors last month pulled $6.77 billion U.S. out of the largest gold-backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Shares, according to IndexUniverse.
Investors also bailed on other gold ETFs. Shares of the iShares Gold Trust and ProShares Ultra Gold have shed between 7% and 14% in the past month.
Still, it's difficult to see what could support gold prices in the near term, according to one expert.
Many of the geopolitical concerns that had driven investors to gold for safety have abated, he adds, pointing to improved market conditions in Europe and modest political progress on the debt problems in the United States.
In addition, he said inflation remains tame despite easy monetary policies by central banks in developed economies. Investors see gold as a way to protect the value of their assets when overall prices are rising.
