What does GCZ, SIZ, and XAF have in common?
According to the CME all 3 need one side of the trade fiercely protected. In the case of gold and silver it's the shorts that get protection, while with financials it's the longs that get the insider's help.
In an irrational and "counterintuitive" decision the CME, at the height of extreme volatility in the financial sector, actually LOWERED margin requirements yesterday on the XAF by 33%.
That's right, in the case of the financial index the CME is encouraging MORE volatility. There now can now be no doubt the CME manipulates trading through leverage and margin. After punishing silver and gold longs with well-timed and orchestrated margin hikes the CME is now intent on routing any financial shorts in the same manner. The XAF margin decrease announcement was once again perfectly timed, seeing how the Dow had just staged its 400 point "miracle" comeback. CME members should be long gasoline futures because they sure the hell have provided a lot of it lately scorching their opponents.
Maybe the CME will next mimic Fed policy and end up with zero margin requirement for equities and TBTF banks.
CME margin for 1 silver contract: $24,975
CME margin for 1 gold contract $11,475
CME margin for 1 basket of insolvent too big to fail banks:$ 3,500
Facilitating manipulation for cartel traders: PRICELESS!!
zerohedge article:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/soaring-financial-vo
l-leads-cme-announce-33-margincut
Dan 