First, a definitional issue: Andrew Maguire is not a bullion trader, and never has been one. That is clear. Stop referring to him as one.
Second, an explanation: Yes, I am a busy person. I tend to work about 18 hours a day seven days a week. So, I don't sit around scratching myself and spending time on chat rooms. However, given the circumstances I decided one evening this week, I think it was Tuesday, to not do my homework and instead scan the good and the bad internets, as George II said, to see what traffic was out there. I responded on a few sites, including this one. So, the mysterious appearance of me on this site reflects the fact that I do not spend my time on such sites and the current circumstances. Bron Sucheski can attest to this: The only other time I have 'wasted' or spent time in such a forum was when Chris Martinson bent over backwards to show his ignorance about my '100:1' comment, which led to an actually very fruitful set of discussions over a weekend with Victor the Cleaner and Bron Sucheski joining me to provide a wonderful overview of fractional banking, the origins of currency (and precious metals) real price depreciation through interest, and other issues.
Third, a bit of background. I was sitting at my computer at 5:15 p.m. one Sunday a couple of weeks ago, kicking myself for having squandered another weekend working instead of gardening, playing. guitars, exercising, or hanging out with my wife, when I received an email from Maguire's first wife. She had heard him malign me on King World News recently, and heard me challenge him, GATA, and the financing source behind them to credentialize Maguire. She was fed up because he had treated her and their children dreadfully since he left them in 2005, and before that, and now was moving to cut his children out of his life completely. She asked if I was still interested in knowing his background, assuring me that he never worked as a bullion trader. I said I was. She provided background information. We checked it out and everything she said was true, and nothing he said was true.
I mentioned my plans to bring this up at the Silver Summit to someone else, who pointed me to the 2002 Mineweb article about Murphy's permanent ban from trading futures and options due to apparently trading against his clients. In that article Murphy blamed an unnamed bank for following the law and reporting suspicious trades to the CFTC, saying if he ever could he would seek revenge against that bank. So I added that to my speech.
Why does Maguire's background matter? For two reasons. First, his integrity. Let's be honest, he lied about his background, and still is. He never worked for Aron, and he does not have decades of experience as a bullion trader. Second, GATA, King World News, Max Keiser, and the financing source behind them have made a big deal, hung everything, on the idea that Maguire was a seasoned bank bullion trader, an insider, who knew what he was talking about. Now that it is clear that he never was, and one must assume they knew he was a fraud from early on in 2010 (they are not that stupid), they and he now are saying that it does not matter that he was never a bullion trader, that one does not need to be a seasoned bullion trader or banker to know what he says. But yet the very value of him to his handlers was that he presumably was a seasoned bullion trader, and he is not!
In my speech, which Mineweb covered excellently and got right, I started by saying, "How many times does someone have to lie to you before you stop believing him?" Butler, GATA, Maguire, have been assuring us since the late 1980s, the early 2000s and 2010 respectively that the 'naked short position' is about to blow up in JP Morgan's face, yet it has not. Actually, when Butler started his lies he blamed Drexel. (You can see his letter to then attorney general Dick Thornburgh on CPM's website from the late 1980s.) When Drexel went under he changed and said it was Merrill. When Merrill got out of the bullion business he said it was Morgan. Murphy assured us on Kitco in August 2012 that impeccable sources assured him that JP Morgan's short position would blow up on it in September 2012. Some fools are still waiting. Others remember something their mothers told them about 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me dozens of times and shame on me."
Someone in the blogosphere is a video I did in 2008, posted on Kitco the day that Lehman died, about how these conspiracy theories are a distraction that costs investors a lot of money. Those investors who took CPM Group's advice, based on real fundamental research and real experience in the markets, sold their silver on the first trading day of May 2011, or bought puts against their silver holdings. Those investors who took our advice on gold sold in late 2011 or early 2013. Those investors who believe the lies are down sharply. That's a painful, costly distraction.
In terms of the reasons behind the increases in margins, look for a video of me on CNBC or the one on Bloomberg TV from May 2011, when I explained this in a way that led directors at CME to ask why it cannot defend itself so eloquently and succinctly.
For those wondering about the large volumes of sales in short periods of time this month, we did a study on that. There have been six 10-minute intervals with above normal volumes in October. Three were an amalgam of algorithmic selling from hundreds if not thousands of individual trading entities. And three were amalgams of algorithmic buying by hundreds if not thousands of individual trading entities. These entities are trading both sides of the market, and always have. That's how they make money. You should learn about them from legitimate sources that know what is going on in all financial markets. The volume aberrations in precious metals are matched by similar trading patterns across other commodities and financial markets. The fact that the heaving trading goes both ways immediately proves that anyone thinking this is an effort to suppress gold prices is clearly misspoken. The fact that the same trading patterns occur across markets immediately proves it is not even limited to gold. Goldbugs are aurocentric in their thinking. They should spend less time with their theories and more time studying.
Sorry if I don't spend my time in your neighborhood, but I just don't.
Hope this helps.
