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A London trader walks the CFTC through a silver manipulation in advance
Submitted by cpowell on Thu, 2010-03-25 23:41. Section: Daily Dispatches
Additional Statement by Bill Murphy, Chairman
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee
On March 23, 2010, GATA Director Adrian Douglas was contacted by a whistleblower by the name of Andrew Maguire. Maguire is a metals trader in London. He has been told first-hand by traders working for JPMorganChase that JPMorganChase manipulates the precious metals markets, and they have bragged to how they make money doing so.
In November 2009 Maguire contacted the CFTC enforcement division to report this criminal activity. He described in detail the way JPMorgan Chase signals to the market its intention to take down the precious metals. Traders recognize these signals and make money shorting the metals alongside JPM. Maguire explained how there are routine market manipulations at the time of option expiry, non-farm payroll data releases, and COMEX contract rollover, as well as ad-hoc events.
On February 3 Maguire gave two days' warning by e-mail to Eliud Ramirez, a senior investigator for the CFTC's Enforcement Division, that the precious metals would be attacked upon the release of the non-farm payroll data on February 5. On February 5, as market events played out exactly as predicted, further e-mails were sent to Ramirez while the manipulation was in progress.
It would not be possible to predict such a market move unless the market was manipulated.
... Dispatch continues below ...
In an e-mail on February 5 Maguire wrote: "It is common knowledge here in London among the metals traders that it is JPM's intent to flush out and cover as many shorts as possible prior to any discussion in March about position limits. I feel sorry for all those not in this loop. A serious amount of money was made and lost today and in my opinion as a result of the CFTC's allowing by your own definition an illegal concentrated and manipulative position to continue."
Expiry of the COMEX April call options is tomorrow, March 26. There was large open interest in strikes from $1,100 to $1,150 in gold. As always happens month after month, HSBC and JPM sell short in large quantities to overwhelm all bids and make unsuspecting option holders lose their money. As predicted by GATA, the manipulation started on March 19, when gold was trading at $1,126. Last night it traded at $1,085.
This is how much the gold cartel fears the CFTC's enforcement division. They thumb their noses at you because in more than a decade of complaints and 18 months of a silver market manipulation investigation nothing has been done to stop them. And this is why JPM's cocky and arrogant traders in London are able to brag that they manipulate the market.
This is an outrage and we are making available to the press the e-mails from Maguire wherein he warns of a manipulative event.
Additionally Maguire informed us that he has tape recordings of his telephone communications with the CFTC, which we are taking the appropriate legal steps to acquire.
* * *
From: Andrew Maguire
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 12:51 PM
To: Ramirez, Eliud [CFTC]
Cc: Chilton, Bart [CFTC]
Subject: Silver today
Dear Mr. Ramirez:
I thought you might be interested in looking into the silver trading today. It was a good example of how a single seller, when they hold such a concentrated position in the very small silver market, can instigate a selloff at will.
These events trade to a regular pattern and we see orchestrated selling occur 100% of the time at options expiry, contract rollover, non-farm payrolls (no matter if the news is bullish or bearish), and in a lesser way at the daily silver fix. I have attached a small presentation to illustrate some of these events. I have included gold, as the same traders to a lesser extent hold a controlling position there too.
Please ignore the last few slides as they were part of a training session I was holding for new traders.
I brought to your attention during our meeting how we traders look for the "signals" they (JPMorgan) send just prior to a big move. I saw the first signals early in Asia in thin volume. As traders we profited from this information but that is not the point as I do not like to operate in a rigged market and what is in reality a crime in progress.
As an example, if you look at the trades just before the pit open today you will see around 1,500 contracts sell all at once where the bids were tiny by comparison in the fives and tens. This has the immediate effect of gaining $2,500 per contract on the short positions against the long holders, who lost that in moments and likely were stopped out. Perhaps look for yourselves into who was behind the trades at that time and note that within that 10-minute period 2,800 contracts hit all the bids to overcome them. This is hardly how a normal trader gets the best price when selling a commodity. Note silver instigated a rapid move lower in both precious metals.
This kind of trading can occur only when a market is being controlled by a single trading entity.
I have a lot of captured data illustrating just about every price takedown since JPMorgan took over the Bear Stearns short silver position.
I am sure you are in a better position to look into the exact details.
It is my wish just to bring more information to your attention to assist you in putting a stop to this criminal activity.
Kind regards,
Andrew Maguire
* * *
From: Ramirez, Eliud [CFTC]
To: Andrew Maguire
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 4:04 PM
Subject: RE: Silver today
Mr. Maguire,
Thank you for this communication, and for taking the time to furnish the slides.
* * *
From: Andrew Maguire
To: Ramirez, Eliud [CFTC]
Cc: BChilton [CFTC]
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 3:18 PM
Subject: Re: Silver today
Dear Mr. Ramirez,
Thanks for your response.
Thought it may be helpful to your investigation if I gave you the heads up for a manipulative event signaled for Friday, 5th Feb. The non-farm payrolls number will be announced at 8.30 ET. There will be one of two scenarios occurring, and both will result in silver (and gold) being taken down with a wave of short selling designed to take out obvious support levels and trip stops below. While I will no doubt be able to profit from this upcoming trade, it is an example of just how easy it is to manipulate a market if a concentrated position is allowed by a very small group of traders.
I sent you a slide of a couple of past examples of just how this will play out.
Scenario 1. The news is bad (employment is worse). This will have a bullish effect on gold and silver as the U.S. dollar weakens and the precious metals draw bids, spiking them higher. This will be sold into within a very short time (1-5 mins) with thousands of new short contracts being added, overcoming any new bids and spiking the precious metals down hard, targeting key technical support levels.
Scenario 2. The news is good (employment is better than expected). This will result in a massive short position being instigated almost immediately with no move up. This will not initially be liquidation of long positions but will result in stops being triggered, again targeting key support levels.
Both scenarios will spell an attempt by the two main short holders to illegally drive the market down and reap very large profits. Locals such as myself will be "invited" on board, which will further add downward pressure.
The question I would expect you might ask is: Who is behind the sudden selling and is it the entity/entities holding a concentrated position? How is it possible for me to know what will occur days before it will happen?
Only if a market is manipulated could this possibly occur.
I would ask you watch the "market depth" live as this event occurs and tag who instigates the move. This would surly help you to pose questions to the parties involved.
This kind of "not-for-profit selling" will end badly and risks the integrity of the COMEX and OTC markets.
I am aware that physical buyers in large size are awaiting this event to scoop up as much "discounted" gold and silver as possible. These are sophisticated entities, mainly foreign, who know how to play the short sellers and turn this paper gold into real delivered physical.
Given that the OTC market (where a lot of the selling occurs) runs on a fractional reserve basis and is not backed up by 1-1 physical gold, this leveraged short selling, where ownership of each ounce of gold has multi claims, poses a very large risk.
I leave this with you, but if you need anything from me that might help you in your investigation I would be pleased to help.
Kind regards,
Andrew T. Maguire
* * *
From: Andrew Maguire
To: Ramirez, Eliud [CFTC]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 2:11 PM
Subject: Fw: Silver today
If you get this in a timely manner, with silver at 15.330 post data, I would suggest you look at who is adding short contracts in the silver contract while gold still rises after NFP data. It is undoubtedly the concentrated short who has "walked silver down" since Wednesday, putting large blocks in the way of bids. This is clear manipulation as the long holders who have been liquidated are matched by new short selling as open interest is rising during the decline.
There should be no reason for this to be occurring other than controlling silver's rise. There is an intent to drive silver through the 15 level stops before buying them back after flushing out the long holders.
Regards,
Andrew
* * *
From: Andrew Maguire
To: Ramirez, Eliud [CFTC]
Cc: BChilton [CFTC]; GGensler [CFTC]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 3:37 PM
Subject: Fw: Silver today
A final e-mail to confirm that the silver manipulation was a great success and played out EXACTLY to plan as predicted yesterday. How would this be possible if the silver market was not in the full control of the parties we discussed in our phone interview? I have honored my commitment not to publicize our discussions.
I hope you took note of how and who added the short sales (I certainly have a copy) and I am certain you will find it is the same concentrated shorts who have been in full control since JPM took over the Bear Stearns position.
It is common knowledge here in London among the metals traders that it is JPM's intent to flush out and cover as many shorts as possible prior to any discussion in March about position limits. I feel sorry for all those not in this loop. A serious amount of money was made and lost today and in my opinion as a result of the CFTC's allowing by your own definition an illegal concentrated and manipulative position to continue.
Bart, you made reference to it at the energy meeting. Even if the level is in dispute, what is not disputed is that it exists. Surely some discussions should have taken place between the parties by now. Obviously they feel they can act with impunity.
If I can compile the data, then the CFTC should be able to too.
I would think this is an embarrassment to you as regulators.
Hoping to get your acknowledgement.
Kind regards,
Andrew T. Maguire
* * *
From: Andrew Maguire
To: Ramirez, Eliud [CFTC]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 7:47 PM
Subject: Fw: Silver today
Just logging off here in London. Final note.
Now that gold is undergoing short covering, please look at market depth right now in silver and evidence the large selling blocks in a thin market being put in the way of silver regaining the technical 15 level, which would cause a short covering rally and new longs being instigated. This is resulting in the gold-silver ratio being stretched to ridiculous levels.
I hope this day has given you an example of how silver is "managed" and gives you something more to work with.
If this was long manipulation in, say, the energy market, the shoe would be on the other foot, I suspect.
Have a good weekend.
Andrew
* * *
From: Andrew Maguire
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 8:24 AM
To: Ramirez, Eliud [CFTC]
Cc: Gensler, Gary; Chilton, Bart [CFTC]
Subject: Fw: Silver today
Dear Mr. Ramirez,
I hadn't received any acknowledgement from you regarding the series of e-mails sent by me last week warning you of the planned market manipulation that would occur in silver and gold a full two days prior to the non-farm payrolls data release.
My objective was to give you something in advance to watch, log, and follow up in your market manipulation investigation.
You will note that the huge footprints left by the two concentrated large shorts were obvious and easily identifiable. You have the data.
The signals I identified ahead of the intended short selling event were clear.
The "live" action I sent you 41 minutes after the trigger event predicting the next imminent move also played out within minutes and exactly as I outlined.
Surely you must at least be somewhat mystified that a market move could be forecast with such accuracy if it was free trading.
All you have to do is identify the large seller and if it is the concentrated short shown in the bank participation report, bring them to task for market manipulation.
I have honored my commitment to assist you and keep any information we discuss private,however if you are going to ignore my information I will deem that commitment to have expired.
All I ask is that you acknowledge receipt of my information. The rest I leave in your good hands.
Respectfully yours,
Andrew T. Maguire
* * *
From: Ramirez, Eliud
To: Andrew Maguire
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 1:29 PM
Subject: RE: Silver today
Good afternoon, Mr. Maguire,
I have received and reviewed your email communications. Thank you so very much for your observations
to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Washington, D.C., March 25, 2010
LETTER: Premier Ring of Fire response lacks factOPINION
Vic Fedeli, MPP Nipissin
To the editor,
In response to the story Ring of Fire moving forward, Premier suggests (June 15, 2015), the excuses given by Premier Wynne for her lack of progress in the Ring of Fire are, frankly, not based in fact.
She stated the Ring of Fire Development Corporation was set up in 60 days. In fact, the government first announced it on November 15, 2013. It wasn’t until August 28, 2014 that it was actually formed.
In the Legislature, I asked the Premier why development was headed backwards. She answered that when she paddled the Attawapiskat River in the ‘Ring of Fire area’ two years ago, she didn’t notice any members of the opposition on the river.
Well, I should hope not, because that river is at least 60 kilometers away from the Ring of Fire. In fact, I visited the Ring for my fifth time last month.
On my first trip, there were more than 200 people working – this trip only six were left as caretakers.
As our new PC Leader Patrick Brown made it a priority to visit the Ring of Fire in his first weeks on the job, the Premier tried to assert that canoeing down the Attawapiskat was somehow an equivalent experience.
We have seen first-hand how the Liberals continue to squander this opportunity, so they can make another billion-dollar pre-election promise they have no intention of keeping.
Hearing the Premier’s answer really does tell us why Ontario is up the creek without a paddle.
Vic Fedeli,
MPP Nipissing
Today at 10:26
http://www.tbnewswatch.com/opinion/372401/LETTER:_Premier_Ring_of_Fire_response_lacks_fact
http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/Industry-News/mining/Ring-of-Fire-mine,-railway--will-change-lives-320.aspx
Bob Middleton likens the discovery of chromite in the James Bay Lowlands to the 1903 Cobalt silver discovery that opened up Northern Ontario and created the great mining camps of Timmins and Kirkland Lake.
The potential impact of a massive open-pit mine, ore processing facilities and a railway into McFauld's Lake, as proposed by Cliffs Natural Recources, will be a life-style changer for many living in remote First Nation communities, said the exploration industry veteran.
"It's going to change the economy of this whole region,” said Middleton, director of Aboriginal and regulatory affairs with Canada Chrome Corp.
He outlined his company's role in a high-grade chromite resource in the area now called the Ring of Fire during a presentation at the Ontario Exploration and Geoscience Symposium, Dec. 16 in Sudbury.
Canada Chrome is a subsidiary of KWG Resources Inc., one of the companies involved in the $1.5 billion development, which includes an $800-million mine scheduled to go into production by 2015.
Cliffs won a takeover battle this winter with Noront Resources over Freewest Resources, who together with KWG and Spider Resources, found some of the richest chromite deposits in the world.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Cliffs, a global iron ore pellet and coal producer and an established industrial railway builder, is expanding into the stainless steel market with the development of North America's first chromite mine.
Chromite is processed into ferrochrome used in making stainless steel.
Canada Chrome will operate the mine and build a 350-kilometre long haul railway capable of moving four-million tons of ore a year from McFauld's Lake to Nakina in northwestern Ontario to connect with the Canadian National Railway's (CN) main line.
Middleton said there is enough tonnage in the McFauld's Lake deposits to see chromite production last 150 to 200 years.
The economic and social impact will be far-reaching for First Nations and northwestern Ontario communities.
The entire project will create 4,500 direct full-time jobs with a multitude of spinoff employment.
In his meetings with local First Nation chiefs, Middleton emphasized how critical the training will be in laying the groundwork for a resident workforce.
"The kids that are in Grade 9 right now are going to be the ones coming into the mainstream for employment five years away."
Middleton is working with the Matawa First Nations, a tribal council of nine communities include Fort Hope and Marten Falls, to immediately pursue government job training funds.
"This (railway) route will change the lives of all of these communities and for the first time bring everybody together,” he said.
He anticipates there will be freight generated by other miners and geographically isolated communities.
“It's going to open up everything. All the other gold, copper, nickel discoveries will be serviced. All the supplies will come north for building and construction, bringing everything, including groceries.”
Two north-south routes have been proposed. The more-favoured western corridor follows a system of glacial eskers, the only high ground in the flat muskeg swamp of the James Bay Region.
The southern terminus is near the Aroland First Nation, just west of Nakina. A former Buchanan mill site at nearby Exton could be used as a staging area for equipment and supplies heading north, said Middleton.
A long service road may run parallel to the track. In late November, Cliffs officials considered placing a smelter and an electric arc furnace complex somewhere in the Thunder Bay area. It would produce as much as 800,000 tonnes of ferrochrome per year to ship to U.S. stainless steel producers in the Great Lakes region.
An ore processing mill with a gravity separator is also needed, said Middleton.
Where these facilities will be sited is an equally big prize.
Thunder Bay seems to be the front-runner, but there are some logistical snags.
"We originally thought this would all go down to Thunder Bay where there's lots of power, people and we could bring (coking coal) in by boat,” said Middleton.
But CN Rail removed the tracks last summer from its Kinghorn line linking Longlac and Thunder Bay.
"It would have taken a cheque of $30 million to stop them from tearing it up because they're selling the rail to another project in the tarsands,” said Middleton.
“All that rail is leaving Ontario to go out to Alberta. So that kind of killed an easy way of getting chromite to Thunder Bay."
Middleton said shifting freight between CN and Canadian Pacific Railway is an expensive proposition.
"It's starting to look like the Longlac-Nakina-Geraldton area will become the focal point for processing,” Middleton later said in an interview with Northern Ontario Business.
Securing a large power supply is also a big consideration. Middleton suspects there may be excess hydro-electric power capacity in the Nipigon area left over from demise of the lumber industry that could used for ore processing.
The potential magnitude of the Canada Chrome project stands to be a real game-changer when it comes to the McGuinty government's Far North Act (Bill 191), not yet enacted into law. The legislation proposes setting aside half the Far North forests for protection.
While its implications worries many in the mineral exploration community, Canada Chrome has safeguarded its rail corridors by staking a string of claims from McFauld's to Nakina, which they intend to drill for mineralization.
Middleton said KWG will do what it takes to comply with all environmental regulations, but added this is a major mining project that will be recognized by Ottawa as having national economic importance for First Nations.
"This project has to be paid attention to."
There are major rivers to cross including two that have been declared provincial parks – the Albany and the Attawapiskat.
Baseline environmental work is already underway to study the geochemistry of the lakes and streams in advance of three years of major environmental assessment work leading up to construction.
Middleton said he doesn't expect Bill 191 to have any impact on the development.
While the project's size and impact could be eligible for government infrastructure money, Middleton said if they get an important federal tax ruling, the mine railway could be qualifed as a Canadian Development Expense under the Income Tax Act. This would allow the project to be entirely privately financed through a special flow-through fund
An old prospector shuffled into the town of El Indio , Texas leading an old tired mule. The old man headed straight for the only saloon intown, to clear his parched throat. He walked up to the saloon and tied his old mule to the hitch rail.
As he stood there, brushing some of the dust from his face and clothes, a young gunslinger stepped out of the saloon with a gun in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other.
The young gunslinger looked at the old man and laughed, saying, "Hey old man, have you ever danced?"
The old man looked up at the gunslinger and said, "No, I never did dance... Never really wanted to.."
A crowd had gathered as the gunslinger grinned and said, "Well, you old fool, you're gonna dance now," and started shooting at the old man's feet.
The old prospector, not wanting to get a toe blown off, started hopping around like a flea on a hot skillet.
Everybody was laughing, fit to be tied.
When his last bullet had been fired, the young gunslinger, still laughing, holstered his gun and turned around to go back into the saloon.
The old man turned to his pack mule, pulled out a
double-barreled shotgun, and cocked both hammers. The loud clicks carried clearly through the desert air.
The crowd stopped laughing immediately. The young gunslinger heard the sounds too, and he turned around very slowly.
The silence was almost deafening.
The crowd watched as the young gunman stared at the old timer and the large gaping holes of those twin 10 gauge barrels. The barrels of the shotgun never wavered in the old man's hands, as he quietly said, "Son, have you ever kissed a mule's ass?"
The gunslinger swallowed hard and said, "No sir...... But.. I've always wanted to."
There are a few lessons for us all here:
Never be arrogant.
Don't waste ammunition.
Whiskey makes you think you're smarter than you are.
Always, always make sure you know who has the power.
Don't mess with old folks, they didn't get old by being stupid.
don't you just love a story with a happy ending ?
Dear Sum4All et al,
You seem to be intimating that IAMSUDBURY 9/18/09 21:05 and IAMSUDBURY 9/19/09 10:58 are in fact two separate entities. Let us delve into the possibilities...
Either you are correct, in which case either:
A) two separate individuals are utilizing the same computer terminal and/or Agoracom password, or
B) the more sinister possibility that someone has chosen, for nefarious purposes, to assume the persona of one IAMSUDBURY
, or you are incorrect, and in fact what you surmise to be distinct differences in language style and syntax, merely represents a natural physiological fluctuation of IAMSUBURY's cerebral functioning (perhaps artificially skewed by the after-effects of ethanol). I myself seem to have a diurnal variation of my creativity and language skills, both naturally, and when suffering from a hangover, so I believe this to be a valid supposition).
What I could gather from IAMSUDBURY's posts:
1) Either he is very right-brain hemisphere dominant, which would be advantageous in his self-professed profession as a financial analyst, or he is not a native english speaker.
2) He possibly is an imbiber of beer, as represented by his Moniker of IAMSUDBURY, which is, you must agree, strongly reminiscent of the formerly oft-played televison commercials with the thematic "IAMCANADIAN" (do these still play on Canadian T.V.?).
3) Hailing from Sudbury, there is a strong possibility (by simple demographic statistical probability) that he is of French-Canadian ancestry. This of course would be OK. We take all comers on this forum. (as an aside, my wife is Quebequois).
Let us now analyse the two posts in question. (I freely admit that I have absolutely no background in Language Syntax analysis...I am making this up as I go...) If this was cursive, our analysis would likely be much simpler, but alas we are in the Golden age of computers.... As a proxy for one's "language signature " I suggest that we utilize the ratio of the grammatical/typing errors encountered in a text (utilizing the TOOL Spelling and Grammar of any word processor) to the number of words in the text (utilizing the word Auto-counter). If hypothetically, (I would be loathe to admit to engaging in such a task) one was to cut and paste the two posts in question, one would find the ratios to be 22/125 (0.176) and 38/215 (.176)...this is uncanny!!
Therefore I believe that it is highly unlikely that the two posts in question, originate from two separate sources. Of course one could argue that a clever individual could alter his text to fit the proxy Language Syntax formula (that I have in fact just made up), but you must agree that this would be highly improbable. If IAMSUDBURY was able to accomplish this feat of language and mathematics, then I would propose that he or she is actually an evil genious, and that it would be in the best interset of all on this collective forum to ignore these posts, for fear of being unwittingly maipulated by such a Master of Deception.
To IAMSUDBURY let me say: Welcome Aboard!!! (This ship of fools...of which I am the largest ;) ) I for one believe that you are ONE individual. That you are from Sudbury, I will not hold it against you.
Cheers, Luker
Are we on the TSX yet?... Ever wonder why NOT?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/tsx-proposes-shareholders-vote-for-each-director/article2160377/
Governance
TSX proposes shareholders vote for each director
janet mcfarland
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Sep. 09, 2011 7:27PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Sep. 09, 2011 7:34PM EDT
The Toronto Stock Exchange is proposing new voting rules for its listed companies, requiring shareholders be allowed to cast votes for each individual director on the board rather than the whole board as a slate.
The proposal would leapfrog the TSX ahead of the Ontario Securities Commission, which has been weighing whether to introduce new voting rules for companies. The commission asked for public comment in January on a variety of possible reforms, but has not yet signalled what reforms it may introduce.
In a notice published Friday, the TSX said it has decided not to wait for the OSC to act, arguing that whatever rules the OSC decides to add would complement the TSX’s initiative.
“This [OSC] proposal is at an early stage so any proposals that may result are not imminent,” the TSX said.
The TSX rules would require companies to hold annual elections for directors, which means boards could not be staggered with different directors up for election in different years. The practice is criticized by governance advocates who say it is harder to compel change on boards if directors only stand for re-election every second or third year.
The TSX is also calling on companies to allow shareholders to vote for each director individually, addressing criticisms that shareholders cannot clearly signal displeasure with an unpopular or underperforming director when they are only able to vote for the entire board as a slate.
Companies would also have to disclose in their annual proxy circulars whether they have adopted a majority voting policy, or why they have decided not to have such a policy. Majority voting policies typically require directors to submit their resignations if they do not receive majority support in board elections.
Current rules only allow investors to vote “for” a nominee or “withhold” their vote, which means directors can be elected with even a single vote.
The exchange said it considered requiring companies to adopt majority voting policies, but concluded the practice is still not widely common in Canada.
“TSX understands that ... majority voting policies are not yet widely understood and accepted,” the proposal says.
The Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, an alliance of Canada’s largest institutional investors, has urged regulators to make majority voting mandatory, arguing it makes voting more democratic when investors can clearly elect or reject directors.
The TSX is seeking public comment on its proposals by Oct. 11.