a short position 25% of annual production is $20billion using...

a short position 25% of annual production is $20billion using rough back of envelop calcs.... thats a *big* risk/over hang.

had a look at the raw data from the comm exchange. US don't seem to have any long positions on gold/silver/palladium futures at all, while their options positions seem to be balanced.

also of interest is that they are heavily short AUD, NZD & CAN..... but they are not overally short on Oil/Gas... which begs the question : are these positions purely to support the USD? ie. are the conspiracy theorists right about heavy handed USD manipulation via the back door?

Note that at 600 tonnes gold, this could be back to back hedged against the IMF's 3200 tonnes... but at 20% reserves it is big even for the IMF...