The low for gold was at the Sydney open, and from there it rose slowly and steadily through Far East, London and Comex trading in New York. The high came in electronic trading about an hour after the Comex close. Gold managed to make it to $928…but was not allowed a sniff of $930 yesterday. Maybe today.

Although trading appeared quiet, the usual N.Y. commentator said otherwise…”Today’s up $5 June gold Comex close [at $926.70] was quietly dramatic. A rally effort on the Comex open was contained under $3 on very heavy volume [41,523 lots estimated by 9 a.m.]. Very powerful attempts to move gold up after 12 noon were also blocked. Estimated volume jumped 25.6% in the 12 noon/1 p.m. space for a totally reversed gain of $2. An astonishing 36.4% [20,000 contracts] leap in estimated volume between 1 p.m. and the close [less than a tenth of the trading

By Ted Butler

A number of different factors have converged, creating what could be a lift-off point for the price of silver (and gold). This confluence of readily verifiable factors shows the silver market to be in a low risk and high reward situation. The factors involve both the paper and physical silver markets. The only question, as always, is if the manipulators, led by JPMorgan and protected by the CFTC, can thwart the set up once prices rally.

The structure in the paper markets, as defined by the CFTC’s latest Commitment of Traders (COT) and Bank Participation Reports, as well as the year-end OTC Derivatives Report by The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, are extremely bullish on any objective historical basis. This means that the commercials, as a whole, have a greatly reduced total net short silver position after the recent engineered sharp sell-off. Normally, when the commercials have

An excellent article posted at Seeking Alpha The Manipulation of Gold Prices by: James Conrad December 04, 2008

There is no other leveraged commodity market where short sellers increase their positions, materially, as the price rises, and increase them even more when prices are exploding, except gold and silver. The reason traders don’t normally do that is that it exposes short sellers to unlimited liability and risk. Yet, in both March and July 2008, and on countless occasions over the past 21 years, vast numbers of new gold and silver short positions were temporarily opened up, with the position holders seemingly unconcerned about the fact that precious metals had just risen exponentially, and that there was a very real potential they would bankrupt themselves with unlimited upside potential. Normal traders would not expose themselves to such unlimited risks.

I conclude, therefore, that over the last 21 years or so, “fake” precious metals

Source: Adrian Ash, Bullion Vault  10/17/2008
“What we thought was a wall of liquidity, turned out to be a wall of leverage.” – Paul Davies in the FT, quoting “a number of senior bankers…”

WANNA KNOW WHY your stock market shares keep on tumbling, right back to what one Fox news anchor just called “the absolute lows” from the end of last week?

It’s credit – or rather, the lack of it.

The US bail-out, European unity, Gordon Brown’s sainthood, every new mortgage application…all these things now look incredible – quite literally unbelievable – against the stark backdrop of no credit, no leverage today. But nothing lacks credibility like trying to make fast money in finance right now.

Even David Einhorn, the baby-faced card sharp running Greenlight Capital, cost his clients more than 12% of their money last month. And he’s the guy who spotted and bet on Lehman Bros.’s looming collapse 14 months …