ted butler comments on the tightening physical supply of silver. it's hard to believe even central fund of canada can't buy silver any more.

Tighter Physical Supply?

There are a number of developments that may point to tighter physical supplies of wholesale silver. The amount of silver flowing into the big silver exchange traded fund (SLV) has been impressive since the first of the year. It looks like index funds have rebalanced their portfolios and this has resulted in the holdings of SLV reaching a new record of close to 230 million ounces, up 11 million ounces since the first of the new year.

Additionally, delivery patterns in the usually quiet January futures contract on the COMEX have resulted in a much higher than normal level of actual deliveries of over 1200 contracts (6 million ounces). This continues a pattern of delivery in the non-traditional months that started with the October contract last year. There has also been, over the past 6 weeks or so, an unusually large transfer of stored silver in COMEX-approved warehouses from the registered to the eligible category, of some 15 million ounces. The most plausible explanation is that the silver is being transferred into the cheaper to maintain eligible category because it is intended to be held (and not redelivered) for a long time. Interestingly, the amount of silver that has been transferred to the eligible category coincides with the amount (3000 contracts) taken by the raptors (the 9+ commercial traders) in the early days of the past big December delivery. I had never seen the raptors take such deliveries before.

In the "heard it through the grapevine" category, a very reliable source told me that the Central Fund of Canada issued new securities in their gold only fund, as opposed to their balanced gold/silver fund, to avoid the hassles of actually getting hard to find silver. Undoubtedly, this was a suggestion from their underwriters. If this is true (as I believe it to be) it is an accommodation to the silver manipulation, or rewarding bad behavior.

http://www.investmentrarities.com/01...