I truly thought I had seen all that was possible in the creation of paper gold when the Comex rolled out its “pledged gold” category which enabled technically insolvent banks like HSBC and JP Morgan – the only two Comex banks to have taken advantage of this new gold derivative product – to use paper gold to satisfy the performance bond requirement of CME clearing members.

But now the LBMA and CME operators have rolled yet another paper gold derivative productive in the hopes that the two entities can stave off defaulting on futures and forward contractual delivery requirements.  The Accumulated Certificates of Exchange (“ACE”) facilitates the “fractional” delivery of a 400 oz gold bar.

There’s just one minor problem with this set-up.  According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the word “delivery” is defined as:  “the act of taking goods, letters, packages, etc. to people’s houses or places of work.” To me this means if I want delivery of the 100 oz bar of gold for which I contracted, I would like to have the 100 ozs deposited in the location of my choice so that I can possess the gold bar for which I paid upfront.  In effect, the Comex has technically defaulted on the contractual terms of the 100 oz Comex futures contract.

Ronan Manly of Bullionstar.com has written an excellent analysis of this new paper gold derivative scheme:

And just like that, when you thought bullion bankers and their frontmen, the CME and LBMA, could not create even more paper gold, they just went ahead and did. And it gets better, since according to the CME:

“Once issued, ACEs can be held as long as necessary. A client can use ACEs to comply with short delivery requirements (1 ACEs reflecting one futures contract of 100 oz) or it can be swapped back against a 400 oz bar by exchanging 4 ACEs. A customer can comply with delivery requirements with ACEs or regular bars, or a combination of both.”

Here’s his entire article:   Comex delivery problems.

It’s only a matter of time before the markets wake to this reality. At that moment we will see the $100-$200 or more daily moves in gold that many have discussed as an eventuality.

I’m growing more confident that we’re on the cusp of a big move higher in the precious metals sector because of the Fed’s massive money printing. Also, because the money printing and near zero interest rates are visibly not stimulating economic growth, we’re at the point at which unless the Fed continues increasing the amount of money it puts into the system, the melt-up in the stock market is completely unsustainable.

This is very similar to late 1999/early 2000 when Alan Greenspan tried to reverse his Fed’s massive money printing operation ahead of that notorious boogieman, the Y2k Bug. Not only did the tech stocks collapse then, but also the precious metals sector transitioned from the end of a 19 year bear market into the current secular bull market.

From what I’m hearing – and something that’s been referenced by Alasdair Macleod and Egon von Greyerz – a shortage of physically deliverable gold is developing in London. The action this past week fits the information. Given the size of the derivative short position (futures, LBMA forwards, leased gold, OTC derivatives, hypothecated gold) in London and New York, if obligated counterparties begin to default on delivery demands, the precious metals sector could become explosive next year.

The paper gold open interest continues to hit new all-time highs almost on a daily basis. The current open interest is 765.5k contracts. That’s 76 million ozs of paper gold. The quantity is a little less than double the average open interest on the Comex over the last 10 years.  The amount of open interest has nearly doubled since the end of 2018,  with record o/i levels almost every day since October 29th.

Never in the recent history (last 20 years) has the Comex  sustained this many open interest hit  record highs without being followed by a significant price take-down.  Hidden factors seem to preventing this as evidenced by the inability of the Comex banks to implement a run-of-the-mill open interest liquidation price attack operation. These used to be good for over $100 of downside in a short period.

The Comex gold vaults reportedly hold 8.6 million ozs of gold. That figure has remained fairly constant with perhaps 10% variability up or down for at least the last 10 years. If just 10% of the open interest  stands for delivery in any given month, there would be a short squeeze of Biblical proportions in the price of gold.

Notwithstanding that, the soaring open interest in paper gold in relation to the amount of underlying physical gold on the Comex is evidence of the degree of effort required for the banks to at least regulate the rate at which the gold price is rising.

Circling back to rumors of a growing shortage of physical gold in London – see this analysis for instance:  GATA – it’s interesting to note that every attempt to push down the price of gold when the LBMA and Comex trading floors are open is quickly repudiated.

But there are other signs.  I don’t monitor the LBMA a.m./p.m. fix on a daily basis, but I’m apprised of it when there’s unusual activity.  It required 19 iterations for Friday’s p.m. price fix operation to balance out heavy bidding with enough offerings.  The price of gold rose  from the start to the finish.  I have never observed even close to this many iterations needed to establish a price-fix in either the a.m. or p.m. sessions.   Some entity wanted to buy a lot physical gold on Friday afternoon and it took time and effort to find enough offerings to fill the bids.

Of course, smart money has been quietly accumulating large positions in the speculative micro-cap junior exploration stocks for the last three years via private placements or direct investments in many of these companies.  As well, there’s been a rise in gold and silver mining company M&A.

Just like in the early 2000’s, October 2008 and December 2015, we will wake up one day to the start of  a long streak of incessant daily gold and silver price moves higher in the overnight market. Those who are not positioned ahead of this will find themselves running for the train as the doors close and it pulls out of the station.

Part of the above commentary is an excerpt from the latest issue the Mining Stock Journal. You can learn more about this newsletters, which focuses on speculative junior exploration stocks as well as find in value in producing miners, here:   Mining Stock Journal info

The price of gold has held firm at the $1460 (front-month contract basis, not the Kitco “spot” price) level despite the constant price attacks that have been occurring overnight and into the Comex floor trading hours since early November.

On an intra-day basis gold has managed to hold continuous aggressive attempts to push the price below $1460 for the last 6 trading days, including today.  Interestingly, last Tuesday (November 26) and Friday, gold shot up during the Comex floor trading hours in the absence of any news or event triggers.

Zerohedge attributed Tuesday’s spike in gold to the jump offshore yuan vs the dollar. But that day gold started moving before the yuan moved.  On Friday, gold soared as much as $14 from an intra-day low of $1459 while offshore yuan declined vs the dollar.  Zerohedge’s explanation for the mysterious movement in the gold price on two days thus lacks evidence.

The open interest in the December Comex contract remained stubbornly high through first notice day last Friday. The banks, which have an extreme net short position in Comex gold have exerted an enormous effort to force hedge funds either to liquidate long positions or to sell December contracts and move out to February, which is the next “front month” contract.

If an unusually large number of longs decide to stand for delivery, it would place an enormous amount of stress on the warehouse stock of gold that has been designated as available for delivery in Comex vaults. In addition India has been importing an enormous amount of gold starting in late October. This has provided strong price support from the physical market.

Also, the gold price has withstood a 43,000 contract liquidation in Comex open interest, including a 1-day record 127k contract liquidation in the December contract, much of which “rolled” out to February.  Historically a draw down in Comex open interest of this magnitude would have removed at least $50 from the gold price.

In the chart above, gold appears to be establishing a strong base in the $1460 area. The MACD shows an extremely oversold technical condition as does the RSI.  With the Central Banks, including the Fed, printing money at a furious pace right now, the conditions are in place for potentially a big move in gold.

The commentary above is a partial excerpt from my lastest issue of the Mining Stock Journal. In this issue I present an opinion on the Kirkland Lake acquisition of Detour Gold that may surprise some mining stock investors. The junior exploration stocks have been relentlessly pounded lower during this latest sell-off in the sector, especially relative to the shares of the mid-cap and large-cap producing miners. I believe several junior exploration stocks are trading at a price level which significantly reduces the risk and increases the potential ROR in these shares.

The Mining Stock Journal  covers several mining stocks that I believe are extraordinarily undervalued relative to their upside potential. I also present opportunistic recommendations on select mid-tier and large-cap miners that should outperform their peers.  You can learn more about this newsletter here:   Mining Stock Journal information.