Most Popular
1. Banking Crisis is Stocks Bull Market Buying Opportunity - Nadeem_Walayat
2.The Crypto Signal for the Precious Metals Market - P_Radomski_CFA
3. One Possible Outcome to a New World Order - Raymond_Matison
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
5. Apple AAPL Stock Trend and Earnings Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
6.AI, Stocks, and Gold Stocks – Connected After All - P_Radomski_CFA
7.Stock Market CHEAT SHEET - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.US Debt Ceiling Crisis Smoke and Mirrors Circus - Nadeem_Walayat
9.Silver Price May Explode - Avi_Gilburt
10.More US Banks Could Collapse -- A Lot More- EWI
Last 7 days
Stock Market Volatility (VIX) - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Investor Sentiment - 25th Mar 24
The Federal Reserve Didn't Do Anything But It Had Plenty to Say - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Breadth - 24th Mar 24
Stock Market Margin Debt Indicator - 24th Mar 24
It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - 24th Mar 24
Stocks: What to Make of All This Insider Selling- 24th Mar 24
Money Supply Continues To Fall, Economy Worsens – Investors Don’t Care - 24th Mar 24
Get an Edge in the Crypto Market with Order Flow - 24th Mar 24
US Presidential Election Cycle and Recessions - 18th Mar 24
US Recession Already Happened in 2022! - 18th Mar 24
AI can now remember everything you say - 18th Mar 24
Bitcoin Crypto Mania 2024 - MicroStrategy MSTR Blow off Top! - 14th Mar 24
Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - 11th Mar 24
Gold and the Long-Term Inflation Cycle - 11th Mar 24
Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - 11th Mar 24
Two Reasons The Fed Manipulates Interest Rates - 11th Mar 24
US Dollar Trend 2024 - 9th Mar 2024
The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - 9th Mar 2024
Investors Don’t Believe the Gold Rally, Still Prefer General Stocks - 9th Mar 2024
Paper Gold Vs. Real Gold: It's Important to Know the Difference - 9th Mar 2024
Stocks: What This "Record Extreme" Indicator May Be Signaling - 9th Mar 2024
My 3 Favorite Trade Setups - Elliott Wave Course - 9th Mar 2024
Bitcoin Crypto Bubble Mania! - 4th Mar 2024
US Interest Rates - When WIll the Fed Pivot - 1st Mar 2024
S&P Stock Market Real Earnings Yield - 29th Feb 2024
US Unemployment is a Fake Statistic - 29th Feb 2024
U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - 29th Feb 2024
What a Breakdown in Silver Mining Stocks! What an Opportunity! - 29th Feb 2024
Why AI will Soon become SA - Synthetic Intelligence - The Machine Learning Megatrend - 29th Feb 2024
Keep Calm and Carry on Buying Quantum AI Tech Stocks - 19th Feb 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Vertical Drop for Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium

Commodities / Gold and Silver 2011 May 02, 2011 - 02:15 AM GMT

By: Dian_L_Chu

Commodities

Best Financial Markets Analysis ArticleI was fully expecting a non-eventful Sunday afternoon when out of no where, precious metals started their contest of vertical drop, as shown in the following live charts from Kitco.com as of Sunday, May 1, around 7:00 pm EST. 

As expected, silver is the undisputed champion, dropping about 10% from the previous day's close, glod, platinum each went down about 7.5%, while palladium lost about 2% (percentage based on spot prices on charts).


For now, there does not seem to be any significant event that could prompt such a move in precious metals (Bin Laden's death is not considered a significant event for the silver market to drop double-digit).  So, my best guess is that this Sunday sell-off is most likely related to the recent margin hikes by CME and MF Global that finally took their toll on the Silver market, forcing some big players to liquidate positions triggering a cascading stops to be executed.

According to Inside Futures, MF Global implemented a 175% margin increase over the CME's recent 9% margin hike.  Moreover, Bloomberg reported on the evening of Sunday May 1 that the CME imposed another incrase of the initial margin by 13% to $14,513 per contract from $12,825, to take effect after the Friday close.  Margins were $4,250 a year ago.

Such a huge margin increase typically will trigger a mass liquidation and reduce traders' participation in the silver market, which would also trigger sell offs in other commodities.  Crude oil and copper were both traded modestly lower, partly responding to the movement in precious metals.

Meanwhile, amid silver's recent huge runup, some investors are moving ot take profits, while U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed hedge-funds and other large speculators cut their net-long positions in New York silver futures by 26% in the week ended April 26.  

Dian L. Chu, M.B.A., C.P.M. and Chartered Economist, is a market analyst and financial writer regularly contributing to Seeking Alpha, Zero Hedge, and other major investment websites. Ms. Chu has been syndicated to Reuters, USA Today, NPR, and BusinessWeek. She blogs at http://www.econmatters.com/.

© 2011 Copyright Dian L. Chu - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.


© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Comments

g kaiser
02 May 11, 11:50
drop in price of gold

The drop in the price of gold is nowhere 7.5%. Check you calculator.

As for the drop, it is only in dollars. In CHF, there is a price increase.

That would indicate that it is not so much a drop in the price of gold, as it is a (temporary) increase in the value of the Dollar.


peter
02 May 11, 13:05
gold hits record intraday high today

gold hit an all tme intraday high today and has since backed off but looks like the trend is for higher gold prices in the days ahead. Silver looks like it's consolidating below 50 for the time being but that's typical of PM'a when they get near long term resistence levels..they always get close up and then back away to conslidate before moving into record territory. We could consolidate for several months as we did last summer but I wouldn't be surprised if we got a silver surprise and saw silver break above 50 very soon: Hi Ho Silver Away :)


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in