adrian douglas of gata draws attention to the outsized short position in silver:

But the real shocker is in silver. The precious metals (silver) derivatives of all maturities increased by a mind-boggling 37 percent, from $9.29 billion to $12.8 billion. This came principally from increases in the less-than-one-year maturities where the JPM holdings increased 34 percent to $6.76 billion and HSBC holdings increased 58 percent to $4.7 billion. (Despite the radically different percentage increases, interestingly the increases at JPM and HSBC were identical in dollar amounts at $1.7 billion.)

This increase in notional value of silver derivatives represents approximately 220 million ounces, which is 125 percent of the global production of silver during the quarter -- and that is only the increase. The entire notional value represents 106 percent of annual global production.

What possible legitimate purpose could such a monstrous derivative position be serving with a maturity of less than one year?

The only purpose I can think of is for manipulation of the silver market. I am not a regulator but I can't think of any "mitigating factors" for that.

http://www.gata.org/node/8611