Silver

[DC]

NY silver sprints to 22-year high on ETF ruling

NEW YORK, March 21 - U.S. benchmark silver futures shot to a 22-year high on speculative buying on Tuesday after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved rule changes for a silver exchange-traded fund.

Silver for May delivery at the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange had surged $10.55 an ounce, up 16.8 cents -- the priciest for futures since late 1983 -- by 12:13 p.m. EST.

The SEC said it has approved rule changes that will allow the American Stock Exchange to list shares in Barclays Plc's (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) iShares Silver Trust, which is designed to track the price of the metal.

It is at $10.50 on the spot market now.

[DC]

This is a free live silver futures order book. I think it is closed from 5:00  PM to 8:15
7:15 PM ET every day though.

     http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/page1/1,3248,1638,00.html 

By the way just because you see buy and sell orders doen't mean it is open. You need to see movement and the volume changing at the bottom.

[Tunga]

The President said today that the economy is booming.

Then the markets tanked and the price of silver shot up.

Gas and electricity are going through the roof today also.

'member Rex Trailer? 

Boomtown, boomtown yeah!

[aries]

I gotta get some silver soon!

Well, first I need money to convert into it 

[Fluff and Stuff]

The President said today that the economy is booming.

Then the markets tanked and the price of silver shot up.

The run on silver for the last few months is hardly related to the economy.  Most of it was related to the possible ETF which is still not 100% set to go.

[Tunga]

The President said today that the economy is booming.

Then the markets tanked and the price of silver shot up.

The run on silver for the last few months is hardly related to the economy.  Most of it was related to the possible ETF which is still not 100% set to go.

Your probably right. Once it is set up the Silver market will fluctuate just like the stockmarket. That is until folks realize it's still just fractional reserve banking and if they tried to cash in thier chips it would crash down too. Except for the folks that actually have the metal in hand?  ???

[Fluff and Stuff]

Except for the folks that actually have the metal in hand?  ???

No fractional reserve for metal ETFs.  That is why the price of silver is increasing.

[Tunga]

I thought I read somewhere that buying one of these silver stocks or certificates (which claims to be worth a full ounce?) or whatever they called them allowed the buyer 1/100th of an ounce of silver in real reserve?

Sorry for the confusion.

[Fluff and Stuff]

I thought I read somewhere that buying one of these silver stocks or certificates (which claims to be worth a full ounce?) or whatever they called them allowed the buyer 1/100th of an ounce of silver in real reserve?

Sorry for the confusion.

Hey, you may be right.  But I don't think so  and I know ETFs are not stocks.

[cpmarch]

Here's a good expose on how ETFs work in general - solid info on ETF shares, commodity baskets, and the role of the market makers.

Skip the initial part about iShares (unless you're interested in some facts about the proposed silver ETF) and jump down to the "ETF Unmasked" section.

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=17599

[Dave Ridley]

hey i see there's  a section on Uranium LOL 

We wouldn't have to worry about attracting publicity anymore if we bought some of that!

[Tunga]

I thought I read somewhere that buying one of these silver stocks or certificates (which claims to be worth a full ounce?) or whatever they called them allowed the buyer 1/100th of an ounce of silver in real reserve?

Sorry for the confusion.

Hey, you may be right.  But I don't think so  and I know ETFs are not stocks.

A silver ETF basket is 50,000 shares initially representing 500,000 ounces of silver. I say initially because over time trust expenses will erode the number of ounces in each basket and therefore in each ETF share.

So initially one share = 10 ounces.

over time trust expenses will erode the number of ounces in each basket and therefore in each ETF share.

For many different reasons.

The silver ETF specifically, with its minimum 0.5% annual fund expense, will incrementally represent less and less per share than the 10 ounces of silver that it started with. As a result, calculating the ratio of silver ounces to ETF shares will become not only more and more complicated, but also increasingly important. It is possible that some investors will ignore this aspect of the silver ETF altogether, especially when engaged in panic buying or selling.


For those not inclined to believe conspiracy theories, it should still be enough to realize that ETF market makers (1) are insiders with their own self-interests including separate precious metals operations in the paper and physical markets, (2) will use superior market knowledge to create arbitrage trading opportunities at the expense of retail ETF investors, (3) will be responsible for management of ETF bid/ask spreads, (4) will control the ETF's demand for metal on the spot market through their monopoly over the issuance and redemption of ETF shares, and (5) will have perfect knowledge at all times about the operation of the ETF including the amount of silver underlying each share.

To boot, tax complications and the erosion in fund assets due to trust expenses actually might make the silver ETF more difficult to figure out than owning physical bullion. Yet the usually skeptical silver crowd has bought the touting of the silver ETF as all advantage, no downside, hook, line and sinker.

Since this scam has been opened up, the price of Silver has been palpitating and is currently infarcted.

I think demand outstripped supply in single day and rather than have the price shoot up to 300 to 900 dollars an ounce the markets just shut down.

Maybe thats just crazytalk.  ???

[Tunga]

Opps the market is still open. They just changed the scale on the ticker to accomodate price fluctuations in the hundreds of dollars instead of 10's.

[Tunga]

"If so, silver could be poised to potentially stage a breakout higher towards $12.25 which has been touted as the next key technical level by chart watchers," it said.


Once this mark is hit the article warns profit takers will sell off and the price will plumet.

Where is the realization that there just simply aren't billions and billions of ounces on the whole planet?

[DC]

Silver is at $11.40 on the spot market.