Comment Text:
Dear Congressman Larsen and Senators Cantwell and Murray,
I have been writing to the CFTC for some time now complaining
about the manipulation of the price of silver (and gold) on the COMEX.
The allegations of price manipulation have been well-documented
for silver by Ted Butler ( www.butlerresearch.com ) and for gold by
GATA (www.gata.org ). They (Butler and GATA) are experts in
these markets. Ted Butler's latest report documents the recent
incident of price manipulation in the silver market quite well:
http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSeek/1306416249.php
Here are some of the highlights:
1. Price in the silver futures market approached $50
on the evening of May 1st (PDT).
2. Price dropped by $6 within minutes on this Sunday
evening during a time when trading was very thin.
3. Price in the silver futures market dropped about $15
(30%) during the next five days.
4. Margins for silver contracts were increased more than
five times during a two week time period by the COMEX,
exasperating the decline in the price of silver.
Needless to say this is not a normal market. There were no
significant changes in silver supply/demand to warrant this
takedown in the price of silver. This is MANIPULATION
at its worst. The CFTC needs to put a stop to this NOW!
Information and documentation on silver price manipulation
has been widely disseminated over the last few years. The
CFTC is well aware of the thousands of complaints they have
received from the public on this issue. The passage of the
recent Financial Reform bill gave the CFTC the power, and
the requirement, to put a stop to this manipulation. Numerous
requests have gone to the CFTC to institute and enforce
reasonable Position Limits of 1500 contracts on silver,
BOTH LONG and SHORT, in order to put a stop to this
manipulation of the price of silver. Nothing has been done!
It is time for Congress to insist that the CFTC do what they
are empowered and indeed required to do to protect the public
from this market manipulation. The CFTC has taken some
action in the oil market recently. It is now time to take
action in the silver market.
Thanks for listening.
Heinz Lycklama
