Ann: Becoming a substantial holder, page-29

But its true this is how the gold mining market works. I'm not saying that it makes it okay but the sooner you accept that the sooner you realise a way to make a lot of accretion. It's a sad reality.

Where else are you going to find the easiest picking for shorts but in gold mining market because:
1. When the gold price is strong a bunch of gamblers betting on the gold price + Henny Penny's and Chicken Littles positioning themselves into Gold Miners because the sky is falling! All of which are near sighted weak hands that sell in masse the very minute a stop hunt is triggered on gold/goldmining stock.
2. If that is not bad enough, those that are into gold and gold miners have a very unhealthy distrust of the financial system already. There is no denying that this distrust makes for weak hands and many in the financial system take advantage of this to drive the price down to extremes. I know this because I worked in a commodities desk for a while. I used to be one of them!
3. Lastly. Why gold miners attract the wrong kind of investors is due to an image problem. Last time I checked there is 196 gold miners and gold exploration companies in the ASX. Count them, they are all listed here. What is worse is only 20 of these are investments grade. Think about that for a sec... Only 1 in 10 gold related companies in the ASX are investment grade (and I'm being generous on that ratio because the list includes BHP, OZL and SFR due to their gold by-products). No wonder the whole sector is painted with a broad red brush. The ASX and the world is saturated with gold miners and explorers that most gold investors would rather hold via VE/GDX/GDXJ than sort through that kind of chaff. Those that hold directly are only in it for a trade and those on a trade are the ones that complains about a shorts the most because of their very limited timeframes.

Some god awful bedfellows in EVN and gold miners that's for sure. The only solution to this is what I've been saying in the EVN and NST boards over the years...Post #:62780348Post #:46792779. Find the 1 in 10 investment grade gold miner, don't trade that gold miners but invest; and hold directly not via gold miner ETF. The minute you are attracted to a gold miner for a trade is the very minute someone in the financial system starts licking their lips. Per point 3 above VE/GDX/GDXJ/GS/JP Morgan etc have inexhaustible shares to lend as gold investors would rather hold gold miner indirectly. Add point 1 and 2 above and many buy high on strong gold upside momentum. That’s when traders feel the best about any sector/stock. Bullishness and capital inflows soar as gold/gold stock powers higher. But consequently this is the point primed for gold and a gold miners SP to get a good whack on the head like a baby fur seal. Because it is the point in time when a lot of new holders/positions are in.

In my 20+ years of investing in gold miners and owning gold bullion I've never seen euphoric highs in gold/goldminers like you see in crypto, tech stocks, etc The baby fur seal scenario is the most logical answer. As a retail holder, get around this situation by remembering that over time far-larger gains are won by instead buying low, adding positions when a "1 in 10 investment grade gold miner" is out of favour as this is the time when players in the financial system just finished buggering up the sector. This is the time when everyone in the financial system are patting themselves in the back not looking at the mouse retail holder sneaking in a LT parcel or two...