jonmeboy

Looks Like There's a Silver Shortage

the dealers may well be sitting on silver bought at $21 spot. They should be able to take orders at current prices if the refiners would deliver at these lower prices of $18 spot. The refiners are short physical as they are only smelting small weight orders at minimum volume. The rest is going to the production of larger sizes required for industrial end users. Wait 'till they start stockpiling!! There will be hundreds of "Hunt Bros." inadvertently cornering the market. Got silver?

Sorry, There Is No Silver Conspiracy

I'm not educated enough to answer the 3 Qs posed by Ottorock but to me, it all boils down to purchasing power of the dollar, which is true price discovery.
That said, there some glaring questions that need to be considered: Did the purchasing power of the dollar suddenly increase by 40% when compared to all other tangibles? If not then why did gold and silver lose 40% of their purchasing power almost over-night?
Were there any fundamental reasons that can be used as evidence for the lower price?. There haven't been announcements by custodian banks that they really do hold your physical. I haven't heard of a new Bonanza size stockpile coming to market to offset the physical shortages. There hasn't been a dumping of silver onto the market by bullion banks or CBs. There hasn/t been a major mine discovered of recent date. Comex hasn't dropped their delivery limitations.
This concentrated selling by the two banks on the COMEX has not been about price dicovery, it has been a concerted effort to drive the price down using the size of their size, position and unlimited cash. Their short position is illegal and IS raising questions by politicians in the Sates (See the Automatic Earth blog)
Why would there only be two banks involved?
Why are they allowed to hold such large unbacked positions to the short side when there are delivery limits to the long side?
If there are delivery limits then why are there not position limits of the same size?
Why is the COMEX holding such small amounts of physical when there are so many promises to deliver out there?
Do the promises to deliver really have the same purchasing power of the physical these days? It seems not when you compare the price on EBay!
It's all about the fundamentals of purchasing power, long term.
This aberration, too. shall pass.