Two things I'm very glad you wrote, Coach:

"I am not sure why $36 silver represents any more of a crisis to JPM than $40 or $30 for that matter. They have been putting on new shorts all the way up, and closing out some of the shorts on weakness. So my guess is they maintain a losing spread by being short for so many years but the overall liability is not that much worse now than it was a few dollars below the current price. The biggest issue for JPM to deal with is the fact they have tried several times to yank the carpet out from under the sector and lately the spot silver price has bounced right back. It means to cover they must pay up and compete with other buyers instead of just rolling over the market and letting the sellers come to them."

"And while I get pissed off with the ongoing manipulation, the Cartel has probably done us a favor by capping the sector and keeping the specs from piling in too quickly. This is the kind of bull that can be sustained since many of the would-be sellers have already blown out their positions to wait for a correction. Without the weak specs there is less chance for a more severe selloff."

The focus at one or another price level seems wrong and contrary to experience. And the countless posts we've read over the past 5 or so years which say "this is the Cartel's last stand" or words to that effect, serve as evidence of that error. If the Cartel can really manipulate prices as well as most seem to think, they should be able to make a lot of money each time there is a significant pullback, as they should know it's coming in advance. And they no doubt have.

Whatever it is the Cartel is doing, the price has risen steadily and strongly notwithstanding, and as the second quoted paragraph chronicles, the actions of the Cartel may well make for a longer bull market.