by ilene - April 30th, 2010 12:01 am
Courtesy of JESSE’S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
The silver market is rallying strongly today, after the recent dip in price below $18 with respect to the options expiration and delivery dates for the May contract earlier this week. When futures options are filled, one is not paid in cash, but instead they receive active futures contracts at the strike price.
The market game is to either get the front month price below the key strike prices before the expiry to make the options worthless, or to take the price down below the strikes the day after to run the stops of the contract holders. The market makers can see the relative levels of holdings in market in near real time, privileged information not permitted to the average investor.

Three or four banks are short more silver on the COMEX than can easily be attributed to legitimate forward sales or hedging for all the miners in the entire world, for years of production. Granted, it is hard to determine what the truth is because they are allowed to hide their actual positions and collateral, so as to be able to make their leverage and risk difficult to determine. It’s the obsessive secrecy for improbable positions and returns that is the tell in most market manipulation and schemes such as Madoff’s ponzi investments.
Goldman Sachs was able to obtain the exemptions of a hedger in the markets through contrivance, for the purpose of their proprietary speculation. But if Goldman is the vampire squid, then J. P. Morgan is the kraken of the derivatives markets, having less leverage than the squid as a percentage of assets, but significantly more reach and nominal size, positions which seem almost impossible to manage competently against value at risk in the event of a very modest market dislocation. And of course the risk which a miscalculation presents could shake a continent of counterparties. These oversized positions appear to be integral to the misprision of legitimate price discovery that is at the heart of derivatives frauds in other markets.
The 4Q ’09 report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reports that "The notional value of derivatives held by U.S. commercial banks increased $8.5 trillion in the fourth quarter, or 4.2%, to $212.8 trillion." J.P. Morgan alone has a total derivatives exposure…

Tags: CFTC, Deep Capture, derivatives, Market manipulation, regulatory capture, Scandal, SILVER MANIPULATION
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by ilene - December 3rd, 2009 7:20 pm
Courtesy of Mark Mitchell at Deep Capture
The Office of the Inspector General of the Securities and Exchange Commission not long ago submitted a semi-annual report to Congress. There are two items in the report of interest to those of us who have argued that the SEC has turned a blind eye towards, or even assisted, unscrupulous hedge funds that make their fortunes destroying public companies for profit.
The first item reads as follow:
“The OIG has opened an investigation into complaints from an investor alleging that the SEC failed to investigate instances of market manipulation and other misconduct in connection with the review, and eventual non-approval, of a developmental drug. The investor also has alleged that the SEC failed to investigate a recent bear raid on the stock of the company that developed the drug, causing a severe plunge in the stock price. The OIG has reviewed several hundred pages of documents, including numerous emails and attachments provided by the complainant. The OIG expects to complete its investigation and issue a report of investigation in the next reporting period.”
I have confirmed that this is a reference to the bear raid on Dendreon, described in considerable detail by Deep Capture. There is plenty of evidence — including, perhaps, those documents and emails referred to by the OIG — pointing to miscreancy in this case. Indeed, it is one of the more despicable cases of market manipulation on record – and many cancer patients were deprived of potentially life-extending treatment as a result. We look forward to reading the OIG’s report – it should be a doozy.
The second item of interest in the OIG report is this:
“The OIG continued its investigation of an allegation that SEC staff engaged in retaliation against a company after it publicly complained about naked short selling in the company’s stock. During this reporting period, the OIG took the sworn testimony of the staff attorney who worked on the matter and reviewed numerous relevant documents. The OIG has completed its investigative work and plans to issue its report of investigation prior to the end of the next semiannual reporting period.”
It has long been a contention of Deep Capture that the SEC has not just ignored allegations of
…

Tags: David Kotz, Deep Capture, Dendrion, Mark Mitchell, Office of the Inspector General, SEC
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