Consolidating

July 21, 2023

by Alasdair MacLeod Gold Money

This week has seen a consolidation in gold and silver of their price rises from the end of June lows. In Europe this morning, gold was trading at $1964, up $9 on the week after testing $1987 on Tuesday. Silver was $24.72, down 18 cents since last Friday’s close. On Comex, volumes in gold were healthy, while in silver they were low, indicating the lack of liquidity in the latter contract. Gold contracts stood for delivery this month so far are the equivalent of 6.76 tonnes, and in silver over 10 million ounces, or 329 tonnes. While we have become used to gold being stood for delivery, silver less so. Perhaps this drain on Comex silver stocks will intensify bear squeezes.

Open Interest on Comex has recovered somewhat for both metals, as our next chart illustrates, but they are still at relatively low levels. Open Interest is a key indicator of speculator bullishness, which along with public interest is fairly low.