Ted Butler on the COT report (borrowed from Ed Steer's column):
edsteergoldsilver.com
[W]hat JPMorgan has accomplished in its COMEX silver and gold positioning over the past few months is nothing short of extraordinary...to the extent that if it wasn't in the data, I would not find it possible. As a recap - in order to buy back the 80,000 gold short contracts, JPM first had to add 20,000 new silver shorts in order to contain prices and then it proceeded to buy back every one of the added silver shorts, while it continued to cover gold shorts.
Very uncharacteristically, JPMorgan became the silver short seller of first, rather than last resort in selling an additional 20,000 contracts short on a piddling rally to $17.25 in mid-June. Usually, JPM comes in much later and at much higher prices in adding to its silver short position. As I outlined previously, JPMorgan did this so that it could buy back many more gold shorts in its double cross of the other commercials. It worked like a charm.
I would put this recent combined epic short covering of COMEX silver and gold contracts by JPMorgan into the same category as this bank dreaming up and then executing flawlessly its perfect solution for getting out from its silver short position - the accumulation of physical metal starting seven years ago. The only difference is that it took me a couple of years to figure out that JPMorgan started accumulating physical silver in April 2011, because the clues were nowhere near as transparent in physical dealings, as are the clues in the COT data covering positioning changes. But make no mistake - these recent COMEX futures positioning changes by JPMorgan are right up there with its physical accumulation of silver and gold as a stroke of genius. As much as it's possible to be in awe of what I am convinced is highly criminal market activity, I stand in awe of the crooks at JPMorgan - they are in a class like no one else. -- Silver analyst Ted Butler: 01 August 2018 |
