first majestic silver

Gold Prices Manipulated For Past Two Years?

December 11, 2014

Since the beginning of 2013, gold’s price action has been irrational. The fundamentals are getting better for gold in respect to demand and supply, but we see sudden, wild swings, often to the downside, on no news and for no apparent reason.

Those who closely follow precious metal prices will agree with me on this: many times in 2014, it was common to wake up in the morning to new gold prices that are sharply down. When you look into the price action, you find a mysterious seller. He sells a significant amount of gold contracts on the paper market at times when not many participants are around to buy…so prices plunge.

This phenomenon begs the question: is gold’s price being manipulated?

Before jumping to any conclusion, it must be noted that other markets have been rigged and manipulated as well.

Rigged: Currency Market

Look at the currency market as an example. On November 12, news came hot off the press that five global banks—The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (NYSE/RBS), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE/JPM), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE/C), HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE/HSBC), and UBS AG (NYSE/UBS)—were being fined $4.3 billion for their participation in manipulating certain currency markets.

More fines are likely to come against the banks as civil and anti-trust cases follow them.

Concerning this, Britain’s Treasury Minister said, “It’s completely disgusting…,” adding, “I think taxpayers will be horrified…I don’t know if corruption is a strong enough word for it.” (Source: “Six banks fined $4.3-billion for ‘disgusting’ currency manipulation,” The Globe and Mail, November 12, 2014.)

To put some perspective on how big the currency market really is, according to the Bank of International Settlements, in April of 2013, trading in the foreign exchange market averaged $5.3 trillion per day. This amount has increased over years. In 2007, it was only $3.3 trillion. (Source: Bank of International Settlements, September 2013.)

Manipulated: Key Interest Rate Benchmarks

This isn’t all.

A while back, a number of major banks were alleged to have manipulated interest rates for a very long time. Traders at these banks were accused of rigging the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR)—an interest rate at which major banks lend money to each other short-term.

While investigation into the LIBOR manipulation is ongoing, regulators from the U.S. and U.K. have fined seven banks and brokerage firms so far. (Source: The Telegraph, October 7, 2014.)

The LIBOR affects many different financial products that the average consumer uses, including, but not limited to, credit cards, mortgages, and student loans. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 45% of prime adjustable rate mortgages are benchmarked to the LIBOR.

Can Gold Be Manipulated?

The answer is very simple: yes.

Understand this: the gold market is much smaller than that of the currency or interest rate markets. While average volume in the currency market is $5.3 trillion a day, according to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), average daily trading volume on the over-the-counter gold market is just $224 billion. (Source: World Gold Council web site, last accessed December 5, 2014.) In other words, the gold market is just 1/25 the size of the currency market.

The smaller the market, the easier it is to manipulate it.

Regardless of whether or not there’s manipulation in the gold pits, I remain bullish on the yellow metal. Its fundamentals continue to impress me. And I believe world central banks will have to do a lot of new money printing to stimulate their economies. Manipulation and irrationality can only last for so long, though.

As I have been saying throughout all of 2014, the current low prices of senior gold producers are a bargain.

Michael bought his first stock when he was 17 years old. He quickly saw $2,000 of savings from summer jobs turn into $1,000. Determined not to lose money again on a stock, Michael started researching the market intensely, reading every book he could find on the topic and taking every course he could afford. It didn’t take long for Michael to start making money with stocks, and that led Michael to launch a newsletter on the stock market. Some of the stock recommendations in Michael's various financial newsletters have posted gains in excess of 500%! Michael has authored and published over one thousand articles on investment and money management. Michael became an active investor in real estate, art, precious metals and various businesses. Michael received his Chartered Financial Planner designation from the Financial Planners Standards Council of Canada and his MBA from the Graduate Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland.


A one-ounce gold nugget is rarer than a five-carat diamond.
Top 5 Best Gold IRA Companies

Gold Eagle twitter                Like Gold Eagle on Facebook