*In addition to those explanations, it is very possible The Gold Cartel is also petrified of what could happen if silver is called out of the Comex and they can’t make good on their major short positions. "Force Majeure" would be their worst nightmare as it would prove GATA’s case beyond a shadow of a doubt, as well as that of Ted Butler. It is why we included those words in our letter to the CFTC. We wanted to be on record that we told them what is coming if they don’t take corrective action.

Silver was starting to explode yesterday above $17.50. That’s when The Gold Cartel made their major move on gold, following the PM Fix. Gold went straight down and silver followed as traders were forced to dump their newly acquired long positions on the breakout and take hefty losses in minutes. There is some chance The Gold Cartel is all over gold in order to make it easier to cover their silver short positions. To do so, they need willing sellers to buy from so as not to drive the price to the moon. Thus, they have been bombing gold with lightning quick raids in gold in order to panic out silver spec longs. If I were them, that’s what I would be doing. They can never cover when silver is rocketing higher. Who would sell to them? Their positions are too large to do any meaningful covering in a sharply rising silver market.

The Comex’s reporting of open interest has become bizarre. They put out a preliminary estimate and then a final number later on. Get this:

*Preliminary numbers for yesterday – The gold open interest rose 11,251 contracts to 505,160 and the silver open interest rose 1891 contracts to 114,021.

*Final numbers - The gold open interest fell 2615 contracts to 491,264 and the silver open interest went down 1127 contracts to 111,003.

The difference in the numbers COMPLETELY changes the analysis for yesterday. In the first case, The Gold Cartel is going all out to bury the prices from where we are now. In the second, The Gold Cartel is engineering these incredibly sudden sharp drops in the price of gold in order to set off spec stops below the market, which allows them to cover their shorts.

Dave from Denver’s partner said yesterday he thought The Gold Cartel was bombing the market on rallies in order to induce spec long selling, so they could do just that, cover on the breaks. Today’s latter open interest numbers suggest he is correct. Dave:

"You see that drop in April o/i? The big roll is starting early for some reason. April has shed over 10% of its o/i in the past 3 days. The active "roll" period is usually the week leading up to 1st notice, which not until 3/31. The "rolling" has been spread evenly over Aug/Oct/Dec/Feb '11 for the most part. "

If I were a conspiracy guy, I would say that the Comex purposely put out the large increases in gold and silver open interest to panic the specs out … which could have been another reason why gold and silver collapsed after the Comex open. I mean small open interest revisions are one thing. What they did today is beyond comprehension, unless you view it from a Planet GATA perspective.

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Positives for the day:

*Gold held $1100 after making a $1099.50 low.

*Silver STORMED back after making a $16.84 low, and, once again, is trading MUCH differently than we have seen for years. It is only 36 cents away from blowing through the key $17.50 level. Bring back RG. We could see some spectacular silver action very soon.