It seems ASX investors aren't too sure how to react to the aftermath of yesterday's US presidential elections. At the time of writing, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has given up an early bump and is trading at a 0.31% loss. But let's talk about what is going on with ASX 200 gold shares.

ASX 200 gold shares are having an awful Thursday session.

Take the ASX's largest gold miner, Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM). Newmont shares are currently down a nasty 3.43% at $66.98.

Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) stock is faring even worse. Northern Star shares have tanked 6.08% and are down to $16.54.

It's a similar story for Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR), which has slumped 6.3% to $1.78 at present.

Meanwhile, Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX: RSG), Emerald Resources N.L. (ASX: EMR) and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX: WGX) have all lost more than 7%.

You get the picture – it's not a bright day for ASX 200 gold shares.

So what's going on here?

Why are ASX 200 gold shares taking such a big tumble today?

Well, it appears this negativity for ASX 200 gold shares is stemming from some wild volatility in the gold price itself.

This morning, my Fool colleague James flagged that ASX gold shares could have been in line for a great day, given that gold futures contracts rose substantially in value overnight. As we reported at the time, gold futures were up 0.1% to US$2,749.6 an ounce

Well, by the time trading commenced this morning, those gains for gold were being reversed, which is impacting ASX 200 gold shares. According to CNBC, December gold futures contracts are now down to US$2,669.60 an ounce, and the spot price has also fallen to US$2,662.20.

This move seems to be coming from both a decline in the gold price itself and a rise in the value of the US dollar. Gold is always priced in US dollars in international markets. As such, the price of gold usually falls in other markets like Australia when the value of the greenback rises.

However, there is also a lot of volatility happening across all asset classes. We've seen the price of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and other cryptocurrencies surge in the wake of the American elections. Bonds and the stock markets have also responded with big moves.

So it appears there is a lot of money moving around and in between asset classes today. Gold (and gold stocks by extension) is getting the raw end of the deal for now, but given what we've seen over just the past 24 hours, who knows what will happen next.