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NEW YORK (TheStreet ) -- The answer to the question "where will gold prices go in 2011" is one of the most sought after predictions on Wall Street.

Gold prices rose 400% in the past decade and made a record breaking run in 2010, rising 26% and hitting an intraday high of $1,476.20 an ounce.

There are many factors that move the gold price. In 2010, one of the most popular reasons was investors buying gold as a hedge against financial disaster in Europe as European Union nations like Greece and Ireland teetered on the brink of default. The response by most governments, one of the biggest offenders being the U.S., was to print money. As paper currencies declined in value, the price of gold rose.

But 2011 has been dicey for gold, with prices getting smacked with double-digit selloffs and rallies. The common culprit has been labeled "rebalancing," where traders who bought gold at the end of the year to show they owned it dumped it in 2011 to book a profit. The same traders jumped back into gold in February and March as violence exploded throughout the Middle East and North Africa region and Japan contended with its worst disaster since World War II. This tactical trading has wreaked havoc on the gold market.