COT Update I thought it appropriate to quickly review the holiday-delayed Commitment of Traders Report (COT) issued yesterday. There was a slight reduction in the total net commercial short position in COMEX silver of almost 1100 contracts in silver and a much bigger reduction in that measure for gold, where the commercials reduced their total net position by more than 16,000 contracts. In both gold and silver, we are nearer the lowest readings for the past year in the total net commercial short positions which has to be called bullish on the COT metric. But what prompted this update was the notable reduction in the net short position of the four largest traders in silver, who reduced their short position by almost 2,500 contracts in the reporting week, to just under40,000. The big 4 (essentially JPMorgan) were the only big commercial buyers, as the raptors were sellers…

Weekly Review In a low-volume and holiday shortened week, the price of gold and silver finished largely unchanged, with a slight upside bias (basis the big ETFs). As a result, the gold/silver ratio remained intact and at a multi-year high water mark favoring silver. I'll dig into this deeper in a year-end review, but it still seems to me like we have just embarked on a long-term journey in which silver will continue to out-perform gold. In connection with the gold/silver ratio debate, I came across some rather strange writings on the Internet recently which proclaimed that only gold could be considered as real money and not silver. It should come as no surprise to long term readers that this is an issue that I intentionally choose to side step, as I don't fully comprehend its relevance. I have no quarrel if people choose to buy gold…

Sorting Out the Stories I guess the theme of this article is to try and make sense of some recent news and address a number of questions readers have asked me about, including things I've written about. I have not tried to put this in any particular order. One recent story revolves around the high concentration of ownership of copper stored at London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses. It has been reported that a single trader may own up to 90% of the copper on deposit at the LME, with the name of JPMorgan suggested as the owner (I've also seen BlackRock mentioned). As you may know, copper prices have recently traded at historic highs, and the concentrated ownership has raised the question of whether someone is attempting to manipulate the price of copper higher. There have even been suggestions that JPMorgan may be using copper to offset…

Weekly Review While it felt like silver prices were under pressure most of the week, we actually closed up about 50 cents, while gold declined about $12. Thus, silver recorded its second highest weekly close in 30 years. Importantly, the gold/silver ratio tightened in to close at another multi-year milestone of just over 47. As you know, I have been beating the drum to switch from gold into silver for quite some time and I would like to pass along an observation that may set you back a bit. It certainly set me back when my friend and mentor Izzy Friedman pointed it out to me. As I have written previously, most people have trouble relating to changes in the gold/silver ratio because the numbers don't mean a great deal to them. After all, what does it mean to the average person that the gold/silver ratio tightened…

A Show Stopper For all those who did watch the historic open CFTC meeting yesterday on position limits, no, your eyes didn't deceive you – the meeting ended strangely and abruptly. No vote was taken on the staff's proposal and you should be scratching your head at what actually transpired. As strange as the sudden adjournment to the most important meeting in CFTC history might be, there was a wealth of knowledge and confirmation to be drawn from it. Let me give you the bottom line first. This was perhaps the most significant and positive development towards ending the long-term silver manipulation that I have witnessed in my 25+ years of effort to that end. As such, silver investors should come away from this meeting with a stronger conviction of how things will turn out in the long run. Yes, I know the meeting ended abruptly…

Show Time Tomorrow should be a big day for silver. Not necessarily in terms of price; but more in an historical context. Of course, I'm speaking of the CFTC open hearing on several rulemakings mandated by the new Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act; most notably as it pertains to speculative position limits. There is no question in my mind that the issue of position limits and this meeting will be historic in regards to silver. Several of you have asked me what I expect to be said at this meeting. The truth is that there is no way I could possibly know, apart from what should be said. I know that something will be said or decided about positions limits. That's enough for me to label this meeting as historically significant. It almost doesn't matter what is said. Even if the Commission sidesteps or delays the issue or…