if gold holds 1320 an can even break 1400 we see it going alot higher- cnbc
Cook: The basis of the lawsuit is that these big banks are short an inordinate amount of silver. How much to be exact?
Butler: It varies over time, but at the time referenced in the lawsuit, JPMorgan, either alone or with another U.S. bank, held short on the COMEX the equivalent of 25% of world annual mine production
Cook: How many ounces is that?
Butler: In most recent CFTC data, it is 150 million ounces, but within the past year it has been over 200 million ounces
Cook: You’re claiming that’s manipulative?
Butler: Absolutely. It would be impossible for such a concentrated short position not to be manipulative. It was this observation that led to the current CFTC silver investigation which, in turn, led to this lawsuit.
Cook: How many ounces are there held short in total?
Butler: The total net short position in COMEX futures is around 550 million ounces, but if you include everything, especially unbacked bank certificates and pool accounts, it grows to 2 or 3 billion ounces.
Cook: Who are these short sellers outside of the big one or two?
Butler: On the COMEX, there are about 8 commercial entities short over 300 million ounces, including the biggest.
Cook: They got squeezed pretty good when silver hit $29, didn’t they?
Butler: You bet.
Cook: How big have the losses been for the shorts?
Butler: In silver, the big 8 were out over $3 billion at the top, and more than $5 billion if you include all the shorts.
Cook: You pointed out that there had to be a lot of margin calls, when gold is included, what’s the total?
Butler: All in all, almost $15 billion.
Cook: They actually had to cough up $15 billion?
Butler: Absolutely. That’s a key component of the clearinghouse system.
Cook: Did anybody fail to make their margin calls?
Butler: It’s hard to tell.