The rules of the game have changed. At one time, western bankers could easily pull a few strings and keep the global price of silver within an acceptable range. But now financial centers in Asia are becoming more dominant, and supplies of physical silver are becoming extremely tight. As a result, western bankers are no longer able to exert the same level of control.

At the end of December, CME Group hiked margin requirements twice in a single week.

In the old days, that would have essentially been the equivalent of dropping an atomic bomb on the market.

Of course they were able to drive the price of paper silver back down to about $70 for a few days, but here we are on January 6th, and it is already back to the $80 mark.

That isn't the result that they were hoping to achieve.