Lol, but illegal to whose perspective? I understand that the Chinese government can sell 100 tons of gold, and force a drop of $50 in spot, then buy the 100 tons back and raise the price by $50. Personally, I feel that market manipulation happens a LOT out there, as we all are on the sidelines betting with our paltry sums. I see Silver having the same fate, with Gov’ts jumping in, but also big Tech trying to capture industrial supply. Buy/sell inventories to influence / suppress price to gain inventory advantage.
Liquidity is important. If a dealer buys a bunch of gold coins and knows he can sell them within 1 week, he is not taking on much risk. OTOH....same $$$ value in silver, maybe he needs weeks or months to sell it.
Then the price will adjust and go lower to account for the shenanigans. And who says the Chinese CB can sell 100 tons of gold and not depress the price and take the loss themselves ?
Silver is more abundant than gold hence the gold/silver ratio. It's used in a lot of newer technologies, AI being a primary one. However, it is vastly undervalued and I personally believe it should be closer to $300 an ounce. I mean we saw silver break the $100 barrier this year. It's absolutely possible. Also don't get me started on the Hunt Brothers.
At the peak of the bubble in January, the Gold/Silver ratio got down to about 50 or high-$40's. As things have settled down, we're back to 68-70x. I would be shocked if we went back to the "old" Gold/Silver ratios with a much higher silver price....if they haven't rallied on the AI Boom (bubble ?) I don't think EVs or Data Centers will push the price up and the ratio lower in the future. Could be wrong....I never would have thought it would more than triple from the $30's....but the amount of buying to move it from $60 to $300 is alot. Think GME at $350 vs. $20.
Even though i have some SILVER, For me atleast its just a pathway to more GOLD even at the highest levels you would be lucky to take `a family of 4 out for a nice dinner
Plunged to $56.33 today. I guess this is why they don't want to pay spot because they could be holding the bag quick. But on the way up you'll pay spot plus. The metals are slowly bleeding off their gains, day by day.