Butler Research - I received a response, via my local congressman’s office, from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, to the concerns I raised about recent Quarterly Derivatives Reports for the OTC derivatives positions of US banks. As a refresher, my concerns were previously presented to subscribers on several occasions and most recently in this public […]

Butler Research - The recent debacle in LME nickel led to the London Metals Exchange breaking trades and defaulting on contract terms. Press coverage has been detailed and this offering from CNN is among the most comprehensive. The culprit who caused this market debacle was “Mr. Big Shot” – head of the Chinese steel and nickel producer Tsingshan Holding Group […]

Butler Research - The new Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Quarterly Derivatives Report was just released for positions held as of Dec 31, 2021. The report covers Over-The-Counter derivatives positions, including precious metals derivatives held by US banks, meaning that the listed futures and options contracts on the COMEX are not included in this report. Unlike […]

Butler Research - A week ago, it was the strongest margin call tornado to ever strike the banks (mostly US banks) in NYMEX crude oil, COMEX gold and silver and LME nickel, to the point of threatening the financial system itself. At its peak, the tornado saw a handful of banks out $20 billion (or more) in NYMEX […]

Butler Research - The beginning of my journey in silver goes back to the original challenge Izzy Friedman issued to me in 1985.That was to explain how silver could remain so cheap in the face of compelling evidence that it should be priced much higher. His was a constant underlying theme – at some point, the forces of […]

Butler Research - The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency report on Bank of America’s (BofA) move into precious metals clearly indicates that BofA’s precious metals derivatives position increased by more than 100 times or 10,000% in a matter of 18 months. This is so extreme and unprecedented, it warrants a full explanation from the OCC and […]

Butler Research - The big question surrounding Bank of America’s (BofA) massive and unprecedented increase in its OTC precious metals derivatives positions is whether the bank knew the full consequences of what it has done? Also, did the Office of the Controller of the Currency (OCC) understand that BofA was reporting it sold short 30 million ounces of […]

Butler Research - The most recent Commitments of Traders (COT) report, for positions held as of Tuesday Feb 1, indicated, even more than expected, massive managed money selling and commercial (bank) buying in COMEX gold and silver futures. So, once again, as on every big price decline for decades, the banks were big buyers, while the managed money […]

Butler Research - If there is one mystery in the gold market that has eluded analysts, it is an explanation for the massive inflow of 30 million ounces deposited in a matter of months (around April 2020) into the COMEX-approved gold warehouses, and the big gold ETF, GLD. These physical gold inflows were so large that many wrote […]

Butler Research - Editor’s note: Once again the intrepid silver analyst Theodore Butler has uncovered amazing facts about the silver market. I am truly astonished by the massive increase in the OTC precious metals derivatives position of Bank of America as reported in the quarterly derivatives reports from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), part […]

Butler Research - I’m taking the unusual step of publishing a follow up article to my recently posted public article on the recent stunning OCC derivatives report. What prompts this more serious turn on my part was a question from a reader of my public article who asked me if I thought he should transfer the securities he […]

Butler Research - The new quarterly derivatives report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, part of the US Treasury Department, was released earlier this past week covering Over-The-Counter (OTC) derivatives positions of US banks, for positions held as of September 30. Some background data on this report. Always excluded are derivatives positions held by US […]

Butler Research - “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” That was from a teenage song of rebellion some 50 years ago, by The Five Man Electric Band (from Canada), I believe protesting the “no shirt, no shoes, no service” notices appearing in […]

Butler Research - Hard as it is for me to believe, it’s been nearly 50 years since the introduction of the tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign for Miller Lite beer, which featured skits in which characters argued what was better about the beer – the fact that it tasted great or was less filling calorie-wise. It was a clever ad […]

Butler Research - The recognized commodities exchanges, long-perceived as bastions of the free market and the embodiment of the law of supply and demand are anything but. In fact, the mechanics of these exchanges subvert the markets working at every turn.  All exchanges are run by the insiders who set the rules in accordance with their own best […]

Butler Research - Silver purchased in retail forms tends to be held for long periods of time, often sometimes over a lifetime and passed on to heirs. To some extent that’s because of the rather few opportunities silver investors have had to cash in at high-enough prices. While silver has yet to visit price levels where most investors […]

Butler Research - Readers know that I am firm in my belief that silver prices have been manipulated for years by large trading firms on the COMEX. I have raised the issue with the CFTC and the COMEX since 1985. Since uncovering the mechanics of the COMEX silver manipulation back then, I have been steadfast in attempting to […]

Butler Research - Compelling data in recent Commitments of Traders (COT) reports point to the emergence of a very large buyer in COMEX gold futures. The last four COT reports, starting with the report for positions held as of August 10, show a dramatic increase on the long side in gold for the 4 largest traders (not to […]

Butler Research - Conditions have aligned for the occurrence of a significant market event in silver and gold. Extreme technical considerations and supply/demand fundamentals have combined to create the likelihood of this event. By “significant market event,” I mean the sudden upward movement of several dollars or more in silver, and an equivalent price move in gold in […]

Butler Research - In the space of two trading days, the world of gold and silver prices was turned on its head. On Friday and Monday, silver plunged to its lowest level of 2021, gold touched its low for the year and the silver/gold price ratio also rose to its most undervalued level for silver of the year. […]

Butler Research - Silver is manipulated and suppressed in price and has been for decades because large traders on one side of the COMEX – traders labeled as “commercials” on the short side – are cheaters. Cheating is a deliberate attempt to evade the rules of the game to achieve an unfair advantage. Where do I get off […]

Butler Research - How much longer can silver prices be capped in the face of facts so bullish that one can only marvel at the tight grip the on price?  To be fair, silver and gold prices have advanced significantly from their price bottoms of last March, with gold hitting all-time highs last summer and silver hitting 8-year […]

Butler Research - Again and again, I have stressed that silver has been suppressed in price for decades by the concentrated short position of the 4 and 8 largest traders in COMEX futures. Many have come to accept this, but my findings do not have universal acceptance. That’s too bad because it’s all that matters in determining price. […]

Butler Research - At just shy of the two-month mark, I received a response from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission yesterday to my letter of March 5.  I had raised highly specific questions regarding the concentrated short position of the four largest traders in COMEX silver futures, both over the week ended Feb 2 in which these traders […]

Butler Research - While many financial developments in the world seem quite strange to me of late, a new observation has me feeling as if I truly entered the Twilight Zone, the TV series that ran from 1959 to 1964, created and hosted by Rod Serling, in which the characters find themselves in disturbing and unusual situations. I […]