World financial affairs coming to a head ... potentially within weeks

[gripreaper]

Silver took a huge dump at the open

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Calz (here)
Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (Commodities: Gold Silver) is surrendering all metal trades and will settle in cash. Defaulted! No Gold or Silver to be given!

The Asian comex just defaulted? An interesting turn of events.

I wouldn't call this the Asian COMEX, at least not so far as size goes. It was a recently created and inadequately funded market, competing against some older and better capitalized markets in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, London, New York, Chicago, and other locations. Here's a couple of lists of the world's gold and silver markets:

• http://www.sharelynx.com/papers/GoldFuturesMarkets.php
• http://www.saga-logistic.com/page21.php?category=1

The South China Morning Post has this to say about the failure of the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange:

It looks as if the 20 per cent fall in the price of gold over the past six months has put the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange out of its misery.

As speculators fled the precious metals markets, volumes in the exchange's two gold and silver futures contracts collapsed.

Last month, HKMEx's 32-ounce gold future turned over just 12,866 contracts. Based on the average gold price for the month, that means trading in the exchange's flagship contract was worth just US$614 million.

In contrast, in the same month, New York's Comex exchange traded 5.2 million 100-ounce contracts worth some US$779 billion.

In the first weeks of May, total volumes on HKMEx fell to just 939 lots (see the first chart). With the exchange earning fees of 50 to 75 US cents per lot, there was no way it could remain in business. Trading ceased on Friday.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by gripreaper (here)
Silver took a huge dump at the open

ZeroHedge has an article on this: Silver Plunges As Yen Stop Surge Triggers Margin Liquidation:

Not a moment after someone was slammed with a massive margin call following the hit of 102 USDJPY stops as we noted moments ago, was that same someone(s) forced to dump a whole lot of silver in thin, no volume trading taking out the entire bid stack on what can only be described as "get me the hell out and pay me anything" liquidation, sending the precious metal to just over $20, before yet another round of buying programs kicked in, and sent it right back up, allowing those quick enough to capitalize on some foolish macro trader's blowing up to pocket a huge profit before Japan has even woken up.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Calz (here)
Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (Commodities: Gold Silver) is surrendering all metal trades and will settle in cash. Defaulted! No Gold or Silver to be given!

The Asian comex just defaulted? An interesting turn of events.

Here's the announcement from HKMEx itself regarding this closure:

HKMEx Voluntarily Surrenders Authorisation To Provide Automated Trading Services
------------------------------------------------
HONG KONG, 18 May, 2013 – The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx) announces today it has decided to voluntarily surrender the authorisation to provide automated trading services (“ATS”) granted by the Securities and Futures Commission (“the SFC”).

With immediate effect, no new orders may be placed and all open positions will be financially settled at the settlement price determined by HKMEx and its designated clearinghouse.

The voluntary surrender decision was made to enable the Exchange to re-align its strategy with the new industry environment since its trading revenues have not been sufficient to support operating expenses and, as a result, its inability to meet the required regulatory financial conditions.

While trading on the Exchange will discontinue, HKMEx as an organisation will continue to operate with its existing staff, and will focus on developing new products including renminbi-denominated precious and base metals contracts that will better meet customer needs. It also intends to re-apply at an appropriate time for an ATS authorization to launch these products with stronger and more effective market maker programs.

“The favourable conditions under which HKMEx was founded have not changed. Global commodity demand continues to shift towards Asia as the region undergoes sustained growth, presenting great opportunities that we will continue to exploit,” said Barry Cheung, Chairman of HKMEx. “Our priorities now are to protect members’ interests by ensuring effective closing of open positions while strengthening our shareholding base and developing new products that play to our distinctive strengths.”

In closing out the open positions, the Exchange has developed a plan in consultation with the SFC to ensure the process is orderly and that investors are well informed of the matter. The Exchange will disseminate settlement prices to its members the morning of next Monday, 20 May 2013. Investors may contact the Exchange’s hotline at
+852 3900 9898 for any assistance or enquiry.

[ThePythonicCow]

Ah - one more report on this silver smack down - with the best look at the details that I've seen yet - from Jesse's Café Américain:

A large number of silver contracts were dumped on the Comex open on Sunday evening, a very quiet market period.

This ran the 'stops' and the price.

A similar number of contracts were then bought back at a lower price. And then the market was roiled, but started to recover from a very obvious price smackdown.

It is a little hard to see it on the 15 minute chart which just looks like a lot of selling. I hear that 2500 contracts traded in 15 minutes is a near record for an off hours session.

The action is much easier to see on the 5 minute chart below that.

This looks very much like the Dr. Evil strategy which the banks and funds like to use when the regulators are turning a blind eye.

I have included a 15 minute gold chart just for comparison sake.

If this was selling by a trader with an eye to raising cash, that trader should be fired. If it was done by a trader seeking to manipulate the price of the market, the CFTC should be able to find out fairly easily and publicly fine them. But don't hold your breath for that to happen in the US.

The price of key commodities are being set by what is little more than a bucket shop.

The world sees this, and is appalled.

Follow this link to see the 15 minute and 5 minute silver charts.

[Prodigal Son]

We all know how supply/demand works.

So we have a shortage of gold and silver world wide, and yet the price is crashing.

That price is measured in USD, with the amount of them in circulation having grown exponentially in recent years. This should be resulting in hyper-inflation and devaluation of the dollar, but it is doing the opposite.

What's wrong with this picture?

It is ridiculous. It is comically obvious.

Hold your metal ground folks. When the dust settles you will be sitting on the only real currency on earth.

[gripreaper]

Lets hope this is the "last gasp" for the takedown, and we can move up from here.

[blufire]

Posted by Prodigal Son (here)
We all know how supply/demand works.

So we have a shortage of gold and silver world wide, and yet the price is crashing.

That price is measured in USD, with the amount of them in circulation having grown exponentially in recent years. This should be resulting in hyper-inflation and devaluation of the dollar, but it is doing the opposite.

What's wrong with this picture?

It is ridiculous. It is comically obvious.

Hold your metal ground folks. When the dust settles you will be sitting on the only real currency on earth.

Just make sure you have actual silver and gold metals physically in your possession . . . in a safe place . . . . no not in a bank or safety deposit box.

Just saying

[ThresholdRising]

Posted by penn (here)
Can someone explain bitcoin in a few sentences. After reading the wikipiedia description that was linked in one of the other threads I'm confused how you get started. Do you buy in with normal currency or a service you provide? I noticed Natural News will be accepting bitcoin for purchases and really would like to understand this concept.

Thanks so much, Penn

Its basically a virtual currency thats created and secured on a computer network instead of printed like other currencies. A llot lot more to it than that though.

[gripreaper]

Outside engulfing candle today, roars back. Could be the blowoff bottom here.



Notice also the increased volume since the flash crash five weeks ago

Also, on the SPX, see the spinning top candle today? That means no buyers and no sellers and the price does not move.



So, is this the top for stocks and the bottom for PM's? It's 1666, a thousand points since the 666 bottom. What, you don't think the elite would use the 666 twice? Supposed to be a Satanic number.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Calz (here)
Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (Commodities: Gold Silver) is surrendering all metal trades and will settle in cash. Defaulted! No Gold or Silver to be given!

The Asian comex just defaulted? An interesting turn of events.

Posted by Paul (here)
I wouldn't call this the Asian COMEX, at least not so far as size goes. It was a recently created and inadequately funded market, competing against some older and better capitalized markets in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, London, New York, Chicago, and other locations.

Here are more details on the collapse of the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx), from Mystery Surrounding Collapse Of Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange Deepens; Four Arrested (Zerohedge; May 25, 2013):

A week ago, when the brand new Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange suddenly shuttered after being in operation for only two years, urgently settling what little contracts were outstanding, many questions were left unanswered.

Such as: how it was possible that the exchange, expected by many to become the new preferred trading venue for Asian precious metals and to steal the CME's crown, could close on such short notice, without barely having been given a fair chance at being profitable, let alone dominating Pacific rim metals trading.

This mystery deepened further after reports that the exchange barely had seen any volume, with allegedly only a tiny 200 open contracts remaining to be settled upon shuttering.

Now, the confusion surrounding the HKMex closure has taken another big step for bizarrokind following news that not only have at least four HKMex senior executive have been arrested having been found to be in possession of false bank docs for nearly half a billion in dollars, but that government itself was forced to "shore up confidence" in CY Leung, Hong Kong's 3rd Chief Executive, whose former top aide was none other Barry Cheung Chun-yuen, founder of the HKMex.

Apparently the HKMEx was riddled with corruption and may have been more of a money laundering or pyramid scheme than it was a legitimate metal exchange. The corruption may reach to the top of Hong Kong's political structure, CY Leung, the incumbent Chief Executive since July 2012.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Posted by gripreaper (here)
Outside engulfing candle today, roars back. Could be the blowoff bottom here.

The bigcharts.marketwatch.com charts that you linked to are live charts, so the engulfing candle and the spinning top candle that you observed have now slid to the left a few days, and will continue to slide .

[crosby]

here's an article from the 24th from WSJ's Market Watch, that i did not see until right now. if i am not mistaken, this is indicative of a what is coming in the future. i don't know about any one else, but i find it odd that the WSJ is predicting a crash: here is a brief quote from the article:

"The big players say the crash “won’t happen soon.” Don’t believe them. They’re betting with trillions. And they are hedging their bets, already preparing for “when rates take their first turn higher,” because rates will soar “swift and steep,” and when that happens it will be too late to prepare. "

here's the link:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ber...ash-2013-05-22

regards, corson

[Referee]

Gold volatility..

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=wVxZUlzWa7o

[Dennis Leahy]

Retail Investor Nightmare: The Bond Fund Rout 06/27/2013 13:19

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed...bond-fund-rout

The bond selloff didn’t surprise anyone. Investors knew that it would happen, would have to happen. Gurus of all stripes had predicted for years that it would happen, that the ridiculously low yields weren’t sustainable, that the Fed would eventually have to back off – only to watch with a mix of helpless frustration and ironic bemusement as the Fed or some other central bank opened the spigot even wider.
Meanwhile, investors decided to brush off the razzmatazz and just hang in there until it would happen, then get out in the nick of time. And they rode up the most gigantic bond bubble in history. But real cracks appeared in the Treasury market last fall when yields rose despite the Fed’s announcement of QE infinity designed to repress yields.
So, on April 30, it became official. In light of sky-high corporate bond prices and record low yields, billionaire Wilbur Ross of WL Ross & Co. warned during a panel discussion of the long-term issues in bond la-la land. This – whatever was coming down the pike – wouldn’t be just a brief dip that you could buy. A mountain of debt had been issued in recent years at artificially low rates, thanks to the Fed’s machinations. It would have to be refinanced in a few years at much higher rates. “There’s a tremendous amount of interest-rate refinancing risk being built up,” he said. “We’re just building a bigger and bigger time bomb.”
Others chimed in. Joshua Harris, co-founder and chief investment officer of private-equity powerhouse Apollo Global Management, offered this tidbit of immortal wisdom to the still euphoric bondholders: “run – do not walk!”
And they did. All at the same time. It stopped the crazy feeding frenzy for yield. It turned the junk-bond bubble into a rout overnight. That “time bomb” would hit them the hardest. There’d be defaults. Value would just vanish. These risks are worth taking, if yields are high enough. But they weren’t. As the average yield on junk bonds hit a record low of 5.24% on May 9, investors opened their eyes [my take: The Day The Big Fat Junk-Bond Bubble Blew Up]. By June 26, it had jumped to 7.02%. And it’s just the beginning.

Dennis