Silver Manipulation

Sep 24, 2012 | SilverSeek

After years writing about the manipulative silver short position of JP Morgan, writing to the CFTC commissioners, and even writing to the CEO of JP Morgan with no resolution, silver analyst Ted Butler finally wrote to individual members of the board of directors of JP Morgan. After waiting 3 weeks without any response from the board members, Ted disclosed his latest action in an article posted at SilverSeek. Referring to his earlier complaints to the CFTC, he wrote:

For some reason, however, the Commission treats silver differently than other commodities. In addition to ignoring the concentrated short position, it glosses over the results of the concentration on price. Silver witnessed, among other large and uneconomic sell-offs, two distinct sell-offs in 2011, in which the price fell 30% and 35% within a few days. Not one word was heard from the Commission on the two most pronounced sell-offs in modern commodity history. Yet, this week Commissioner O’Malia promised that the Commission was looking into the 4% price decline in oil. A decline in oil of 4% gets same day comment; 35% down in silver is not worthy of any comment. This amounts to a level of discrimination that is not tolerated in society or in regulatory matters.

The opening statement of his letter to the board of directors:

I am writing to you and other board members to alert you to my allegations of a continuing manipulation of the silver market by JPMorgan. Since the takeover of Bear Stearns in 2008, JPM has maintained an unusually large concentrated net short position in silver futures contracts on the COMEX, owned by the CME Group. JPMorgan’s concentrated position is so large that it dominates the market and is manipulative to the price of silver, in and of itself. So controlling is the company’s position, that in recent weeks it has been the sole reporting commercial silver short seller. It is impossible for that activity not to be manipulative.

Read the full article & letter here.

July 23, 2012 | GATA

Ted Butler: U.S. government is part of the war on silver

Silver market analyst Ted Butler writes today that he has come to believe that the U.S. government, while not the instigator of the silver price manipulation scheme, has become a participant in it and that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has purported to be investigating the silver market for nearly four years, has been neutered by the U.S. Treasury Department, which has given its market-rigging agent, JPMorganChase & Co., immunity from criminal prosecution.

None of this should be so surprising, as even Butler himself has noted that when the U.S. government demonetized silver in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed that the government would intervene in the silver market as necessary to keep the price down, presumably by dishoarding from the government’s silver stockpile.

Signing the demonetization legislation, the president said:

Some have asked whether our silver coins will disappear. The answer is very definitely — no. Our present silver coins won’t disappear and they won’t even become rarities. We estimate that there are now 12 billion — I repeat, more than 12 billion — silver dimes and quarters and half dollars that are now outstanding. We will make another billion before we halt production. And they will be used side-by-side with our new coins. Since the life of a silver coin is about 25 years, we expect our traditional silver coins to be with us in large numbers for a long, long time. If anybody has any idea of hoarding our silver coins, let me say this. Treasury has a lot of silver on hand, and it can be and it will be used to keep the price of silver in line with its value.

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March 19, 2012 | PoliticalMetals

Jim Puplava, president of FPS, discusses the hot topic of Silver Manipulation with four prominent players in the silver market. Discussion is centered around recent series of sharp drops in paper silver prices. Source: FSN

Ted Butler explains the Silver Manipulation Scheme. iPad users, tap here.

Virtual roundtable discussion with Eric Sprott, David Morgan & CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton. iPad users, tap here.

March 5, 2011 | PoliticalMetals

Watch this 2-part interview with Adrian Douglas, propriator of Market Force Analysis, where he explains the silver market manipulation scheme. Based on his analysis of fundamentals, he opinines that one day silver may trade close to or higher than gold. Adrian also argues against investing in SLV and GLD ETFs.

March 4, 2011. Interview of Adrian Douglas Part 1 of 2. By Future Money Trends

The mentioned article containing cross plots showing past correlation between Comex price of gold and silver and how that has been recently broken can be found here: “Silver breaks its golden shakles“.

In part 2, Adrian talks about how and possibly when silver manipulation could end. Other topics covered include Silver backwardation in Comex silver contracts, PMs junior mining stocks, deflation, inflation & hyperinflation. A self-explanatory chart showing silver backwardation as at Feb 25, 2011 can be found below the video.

March 4, 2011. Interview of Adrian Douglas Part 2 of 2. By Future Money Trends

Silver Backwardation Chart. Click to enlarge

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The mentioned article about why there can be no deflation in a fiat monetary system can be found here: “Deflation – Where is the Beast“

March 8, 2011 | PoliticalMetals

Theodore Butler

Silver analyst Ted Butler provided compelling evidence of silver price supression by JP Morgan and big US banks through his analysis of the recent trading data released by the Comex.

…. We know now that concentration is the prime requisite for manipulation. To witness the most concentrated participant suddenly increase its silver short position by more than 30% is something almost beyond comprehension.