Silver: A peek into the 70's manipulation and why the CFTC is a joke

Janet Tavakoli
Regulators haven't been able to keep up with price manipulation in the commodities markets or any other market. Why do games persist? The short answer is because they can, and because they can be very profitable in the short run. If you've Googled Gold or silver, you've probably come across sites that are breathless about the possibility of manipulation of metals prices. The problem with the internet is that it's new, too new to capture the rich history of the financial markets. Manipulation of metals prices--and the prices of many other commodities--is an old tradition. Here's one example adapted from An Alchemists Road: My transition from medicine to business, by Dr. Henry Jarecki (Dr. Jarecki is currently Chairman of Gresham Investment Management LLC.), October, 1989. This publication is not available on the internet.

Absent Regulation

Anomalous price moves are a red flag, and it seems regulators aren't even looking at them. If regulators ever did decide to launch a genuine investigation, the place to start is with those who gained the most in the short run--or those who avoided the most short run loss--from the price moves. The idea that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) can regulate credit derivatives when they aren't up to the task of regulating commodities is among the more ludicrous results of our financial crisis "regulation." The MF Global debacle and the price action in precious metals--especially around options expiration dates--show how lost our regulators are and how mistaken their overseers in Washington remain. Janet Tavakoli is the author of an upcoming e-book: MF Global: A Classic Situation for Fraud.

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