Gold didn’t do a lot in Far East trading on Tuesday. The low of the day occurred at the open in London…and for the next two hours, gold put on a spirited rally [$10+] that ended with the price going vertical about half an hour before the Comex open. However, as is always the case at moments like these, the usual not-for-profit sellers showed up and did their dirty until it was time for them to go for lunch at 12:00 noon in New York. Once ‘da boyz’ were at lunch, gold made a $7 run higher, which ended the second that floor trading was over on the Comex…and electronic trading began.

And by the time that gold trading was over for the day…most of that gain had been made to disappear…and gold finished down about a dollar from Monday’s close.

Gold price action on Monday looked similar to Friday’s. The bottom for gold in the Far East came shortly after 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong…rose until shortly after London opened, declined a couple of bucks…but once the London a.m. gold fix was in [10:30 a.m. in London...5:30 a.m. in New York], gold rose to its high of the day shortly after 11:00 a.m. This high [once again over $940] lasted until 9:00 a.m. in New York, shortly after the Comex opened…then it got taken down eight bucks to its low of the day at 10:00 a.m. in New York…which just happens to be the London p.m. fix…3:00 p.m. over there.

From that point it rose right into the Comex close…and was taken down and closed below $940 once again in the electronic market.

Silver’s chart pattern was virtually identical to gold’s.

Both gold and silver hit their high prices of the day during early trading in the Far East on Monday morning. Then, starting about 1:00 p.m. in Hong Kong, both gold and silver began to head south…and by the time I hit the sack shortly after the London open, gold was down about $7 and silver was down about 40 cents. I had visions of a total blow-out when I woke up yesterday morning, but was pleasantly surprised to find the worst was already past. The lows for both gold and silver were at the London p.m. gold fix…10:00 a.m. in New York. After that, gold managed to gain about $5…and silver was steady into the end of Globex trading in New York at 5:15 p.m. on Monday afternoon.

Gold open interest changes in Friday’s huge down day were not a surprise. Gold o.i. fell a steep 9,739 contracts to 391,960…on

As is almost always the case, gold got sold off a bit when the New York bullion banks were the only show in town early on Tuesday morning in the Far East. From there, gold added about five bucks, with the Far East high coming around lunch time in Hong Kong yesterday. From that point it got sold down into the London open…but from there…a rally began which lasted until London closed for the day at 11:00 a.m. New York time. Gold then got sold off five bucks to around $980…and that’s where the price stayed until the end of electronic trading at 5:15 Eastern time. The usual N.Y. commentator said that “Estimated volume was only 87,230 lots, with barely 10,000 contracts trading in the final 90 minutes.”

For the most part, silver’s path was similar to gold’s…with the bottom coming about 4:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon in Hong Kong…shortly before the

With American and British equity markets closed on Monday, there wasn’t a lot of activity in the gold and silver markets either. Both got sold off a tad in Sunday night electronic trading and during Monday in the Far East…but both recovered during European trading hours at, or after, London opened for the day. The highs…such as they were…were after the London close.

On Monday evening a more serious seller showed up in the New York access market, and by the close of Tuesday afternoon trading in Hong Kong, gold had about $17 shaved off its price. That was its low of the day, and a rally ensued in London that lasted until Comex trading began in New York at 8:15 a.m. yesterday morning, when another not-for-profit seller showed up. The New York low in gold was at precisely 9:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. From there, another rally lasted until shortly

Gold tacked on about $10 in early Wednesday morning trading in the Far East. But shortly before London began trading, all the those gains began to disappeared. The low for the day was shortly after Comex floor trading started. From there, a spirited rally began, which went vertical right after London closed for the day…but [as always] there was someone standing there with a hammer to make sure that the rally went no further.

Silver was up a dime by 3 p.m. in Hong Kong in their afternoon yesterday…when it, too, began the long decline…with the bottom coming at 9:30 during Comex trading. The rally in silver ran into the same seller as gold…and at precisely the same time…and that was it for the day.

Initially, the precious metals shares held up well despite the onslaught…but the

There was a brief flurry of excitement in Globex trading on Sunday evening’s New York open. Both gold and silver were up right out of the starting gate…silver especially so.

The U.S. bullion banks [the only ones allowed to trade at that time of day] were either going long or covering shorts. This rally continued through the Sydney open in gold…and into the beginning of trading in Hong Kong for silver. At those two points, a not-for-profit seller showed up…or the buying/short covering stopped. Those were the highs of the day in both metals. It’s quite unusual for the not-for-profit sellers/price cappers to hit the metals at two widely separated times like this. Almost without exception, they hit both metals at precisely the same time. I should quickly point out that trading volume in New York on Sunday night…and in Sydney and the Far East early Monday morning….was basically air in

In early Monday morning trading in Hong Kong, the gold price did a quick re-test of New York’s Friday afternoon’s low and slowly started working its way higher from there. Gold really began moving to the upside the moment that Comex trading began in New York. The price moved higher in fits and starts until 12:45 Eastern, when the top was in. Since then, it’s been basically trading sideways.

In silver, the price spiked down the moment that Globex trading began in New York on Sunday evening…and hit a low of $11.73 before recovering to unchanged around $11.90. There it sat until 9:00 a.m. in London trading where it tacked on 20 cents…and from that point, spent the next 22 hours within a dime of that price.

I’m still not sure what to read into the fact that the boyz haven’t broken through the 200-day moving average in gold…if there is, in

Silver; Past, Present, Future Ted Butler

(Editor’s Note: The following is a speech delivered to the attendants of the Phoenix Silver Summit 2009, which took place over the weekend. - JSB)

Good afternoon and thank you for being here. It’s an honor to get to speak with so many interested in silver, especially at such an interesting time in history. I’m going to ramble a bit, and try not to get too detailed and save some time for questions where you can get specific.

I’d like to acknowledge a few people who are not here that had an awful lot to do with me being here today. First, I’d like to thank Jim Cook, from Investment Rarities in Minneapolis, for his

As per normal, every little rally attempt in early Far East trading in Sydney got firmly sold off…and by the time that London opened for business on Monday morning, gold was down about $12.

From there…it and silver rose until about lunchtime in London…the silver fix. Then gold and silver both got sold off again until just before the London p.m. gold fix…which turned out to be the lows of the day for both metals…and then away they went to the upside. Silver’s vertical spike at lunchtime in New York got hammered…and gold kind of died quietly at the same time. Gold was never allowed back over $1,000…and silver’s new high price [for this move] was not allowed to stand…as both metals finished within a hair of their closing prices on Friday. Volume yesterday, according the usual N.Y. gold commentator, “was 111,100 contracts with a switch effect of 6,700…and 70%