It is no secret that the gold bugs got squashed, but Wall St. analysts are starting to have something different to say. The price of gold broke from a peak of close to $1,800, and now the $1,400-per-ounce mark has been challenged and broken.

To show just how bad the carnage has been, the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEMKT: GLD) is actually down an unheard of 18% so far in 2013. The miners are even getting hit harder as the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEMKT: GDX) is down a whopping 38% year to date. Many investors want to know what the bottom in the price of gold is and how to buy gold.

While we have seen the analyst calls growing for gold to go to $1,300 or even $1,200, some Wall St. analysts are starting to defend shares of the beaten and taunted gold miners.

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE: AU) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank on Wednesday, and the weakness was cited as a buying opportunity.

Gold Fields Inc. (NYSE: GFI) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank on Wednesday, also cited as a buying opportunity on the weakness. Gold Fields also was raised to Neutral from Sell by Citigroup on Monday, although in all fairness the that call was a negative sector call on both gold and silver.

On Monday we saw that Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) was initiated with a Buy rating by a firm named Dundee, and BMO Capital Markets also raised its rating to Outperform from Market Perform.

Canaccord Genuity also on Monday began coverage of a company in Canada called Carpathian Gold Inc. (CPN.TO) with a Speculative Buy rating.

Another call in Canada came from BMO Capital Markets, where it started coverage of Mandalay Resources Corp. (MND.TO) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform.

We strongly suggest that investors do some serious homework before trying to catch a falling knife. It can be a painful, dangerous game. Taking any full positions amidst a serious correction also can turn large fortunes into small fortunes.

The trend is still lower in the price of gold. As a technician or chartist would say, “It is in a downtrend until it isn’t.”

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