June Contract Expiry Approaches

by Alasdair MacLeod Gold Money

Gold and silver fell sharply ahead of the Comex June contracts expiry, whose first notice day is next Wednesday. Gold fell $23 from last Friday’s close to trade at $1954 in European trade this morning, and silver was down 68 cents at $23.12 on the same timescale.

End-of-month declines in futures prices are almost as predictable as sunsets because the shorts (predominantly the establishment market makers and bullion desk traders) work together to reduce their positions. From 15 May when speculators, predominantly hedge funds, were maximum bullish gold’s Open Interest has contracted by 66,995 contracts. That’s a positional profit for the shorts of $435m.

This month has also seen significant contract deliveries, 15.81 tonnes in gold, and 240 tonnes of silver.