Welcome back from the US holidays, everyone! Let’s dive in…
SILVER!
I’ve been a long-time holder of silver. I rarely ever part with any, and even then it’s only as gifts and never to sell it. So, yes, I am a ‘silver bug.’
But only the sense that it represents reality, is a physical substance, and is in ridiculously short supply compared to demand.
So I was keenly reading about silver all weekend and somewhat anxiously awaiting the reopening of silver trading at 7:00 pm last evening (Sunday). What would happen? Would it be slammed mercilessly by the paper pushers, as has nearly always been the case over the past 25 years whenever silver has dared to try to bust higher?
Color me shocked:
No Mr. Slammy! Silver actually opened green at 8:00 a.m. when the Crimex pits opened.
At 8:31 it stands at $58.01. Which means silver is up 100% YTD.
As I noted in the comments under Friday’s piece, the silver shorts on the Comex are on the hook for 761 million ounces. That’s 92% of yearly mine output. Silver is the most heavily shorted commodity on the planet, and its nearest competitor isn’t even close.
But there are many more shorts than just the Comex paper pits:
A record new high short position in SLV? And then there are options, and other highly leveraged derivatives we’d have to toss in there too.
by cmartenson 
