gold, page-20376

If we were looking at a market in solid gold it would have already soared in price over the last month. Buying demand has increased over 500%. It's a pity buyers are content with pieces of paper in place of the gold they are purchasing. Until they do we have to be content with a rigged market.

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If an investor buys contracts for gold, they won’t be paired with anyone delivering the actual gold. They are paired with someone who wants to sell contracts, regardless of whether he has any physical gold. These paper contracts are tethered to physical gold in a bullion bank’s vault by the thinnest of threads. Recently the coverage ratio – the number of ounces represented on paper contracts relative to the actual stock of registered gold bars – rose above 500 to 1.

The party selling that paper might be another trader with an existing contract. Or, as has been happening more of late, it might be the bullion bank itself. They might just print up a brand new contract for you. Yes, they can actually do that! And as many as they like. All without putting a single additional ounce of actual metal aside to deliver.
Gold and silver are considered precious metals because they are scarce and beautiful. But those features are barely a factor in setting the COMEX “spot” price. In that market, and other futures exchanges, derivatives are traded instead. They neither glisten nor shine and their supply is virtually unlimited. Quite simply, that’s a problem.
But it gets worse. As said above, if you bet on the price of gold by either buying or selling a futures contract, the bookie might just be a bullion banker. He’s now betting against you with an institutional advantage; he completely controls the supply of your contract."