Tag Archives: rob kirby

From Rob Kirby of
Kirby Analytics:

Here’s the link to CME silver data:

Open interest is 135,876 contracts – by definition ALL PAPER

5,000 oz per contract = total ounces 679,380,000 [which happens to be roughly one year of global output from mines]

679,380,000 x 30.00 per ounce = 20,381,400,000

**silver option open interest is roughly 17,500 contracts [I haven’t even added this]

Now, remember, NY is not where the REAL ACTION is. The big volumes are traded on the LBMA

Here’s what the LBMA claims they are doing – as of Nov. 12, 2010:

Clearing Turnover Statistics: October 2010

Release Date: 12 November 2010

Clearing statistics for gold and silver rose across the board in October.

Gold ounces transferred rose 2% month on month, to an average of 17.1 million per day. The number of transfers rose by 8.9% to a daily average of 1775. The average fixing price rose 5.6%, boosting an increase in the average value of transfers to $23.0 million, a rise of 7.8%.

Measured year-on-year, gold ounces transferred fell by 17.8% and the number of transfers by 7.0%, but the continual rise in price pushed the average value of gold transferred up by 5.7%.

Silver ounces transferred rose 4.2% to a daily average of 92.2 million. The number of transfers rose 13.3% to 441 per day. The month on month rise in ounces transferred, combined with a 13.8% rise in the monthly price, saw total value rise 18.6% to $2.16 billion, the greatest daily average value since August 2008.

So, the LBMA claims they are “transferring” amounts roughly 1 / 7 of World Annual Mine Supply – EACH DAY. So, every seven business days the LBMA “transfers” world annual mine output.

There are 261 business days in 2010 – So the LBMA “transfers” world mine supply 261 / 7 = 37.29 times per year on their published “run rate”.

So, to specifically answer your question about BIS “chit chat” about 200 bln of silver shorts – if they know this – I wonder why they don’t show it in their OWN derivatives publication? [the silver numbers are buried in “other” in the table below]:

I suspect this is done ON PURPOSE to obfuscate the true nature of the numbers which become glaringly apparent when you publish them in a transparent fashion. IMO, EVERYTHING in the world of precious metals is kept obfuscated by banksters – from the BIS on down the line.

The Fed admits they have done gold swaps – GATA has done FOIA requests in this regard – but won’t give any detail.

Lars Schall is having the same difficulty getting detail from the Bundesbank and their gold swaps.

Rest assured – the silver market is more polluted than ANY OF US can imagine.

Best,

Rob Kirby