- Hedge fund, PhD statistician claims gold market is “the most blatant case of manipulation”
- PhD: “Statistically impossible unless there’s manipulation occurring”
- Gold serves as political chips on the world’s financial stage.
- Price is being suppressed until China gets the gold that they need
- Gold will go higher when all central banks ‘confront the next global liquidity crisis’
- ‘When that happens, physical gold may not be available at all.’
Jim Rickards: The Golden Conspiracy
Is there gold price manipulation going on? Absolutely. There’s no question about it. That’s not just an opinion.
There is statistical evidence piling up to make the case, in addition to anecdotal evidence and forensic evidence. The evidence is very clear, in fact.
These are the opening lines of Jim Rickards’ piece ‘The Golden Conspiracy’, an op-ed that may surprise even the most seasoned followers of gold markets.
Gold and silver price manipulation is not a new topic to regular readers. For years the idea that precious metals markets are subject to more than just free market forces has been dismissed by the mainstream. Many have referred to gold and silver manipulation as topic fodder for the conspiracy and deep web forums. This is despite evidence to the contrary.
In the last eighteen months or so what was dismissed as anecdotal tales of manipulation has finally been recognised by the regulators and lawmakers as something very real and serious. Fines have been doled out and regulators have been slowly implementing new rules.
But what if the manipulation goes above institutions that can be called to account? Can they be fined? Can it be somewhat controlled by the authorities? What if it is a country doing the manipulation? Rickards believes it is.
‘…where is the manipulation coming from? There are a number of suspects but you need look no further than China.’
Role of China
Previously we have been excited about China’s role in the gold market. In April last year they launched yuan denominated gold bullion trading. We not only expected this to further boost its power in the global gold and forex markets but to also lead to increased transparency and reduce price manipulation.
However the country is not only keen to increase transparency in the market for their own long-term gain, they have short-term goals as well – to increase their gold reserves.