Comment Text:
If the activity in the silver market this last Thursday is not investigated, I have to wonder, "is the CFTC a colossal waste of time and money?" Clearly, the market was massively manipulated so that various large, insiders could profit at the expense of everyone else. Like corrupt Mexican cops taking cash with you drivers license, the CFTC effectively states, "I don't see nuthin'"...Why even give investors the illusion that you are regulating, and be honest, and simply state, "caveat emptor, there is no regulation."
Furthermore, it is timely that you are considering making some changes in regulation of size limits. I'll cease my rant and simply request you read it as a prelude.
Therefore:
Dear Chairman Gensler and fellow Commissioners:
I urge you to approve the staff’s proposal on position limits, including limiting exemptions to bona fide hedgers. I would ask you, however, to readjust the proposed formula in silver. The current formula would result in a position limit of over 5,000 contracts for any single speculator, on an all-months-combined basis. 5,000 contracts is the equivalent of 25 million ounces of silver. This is too high of a threshold in light of the realities of the world silver market.
There are only three mining companies in the world who produce more than 25 million ounces of silver per year and only a similar number of industrial consumers using more than that amount. Any speculator holding an amount of silver derivatives greater than what 99% of the world’s silver producers and consumers make or use in a year would have inordinate pricing power. The purpose of speculative position limits is to prevent such a circumstance.
Please institute a 1500 contract (7.5 million ounce) position limit for silver.
Respectfully submitted,
Doug Graham
A small, insignificant, voiceless investor
