silver spot vs. SLV

[timmus0382]

What would happen to spot if the market didn't have SLV? I don't like that the markets allow trading more paper than what actually exists in physical. It seems crooked to me.

[68Camaro]

That's why CEF and PSLV and PHYS and others exist and have been created.

[beauanderos]

What I want to know, regardless of the endless debate that surrounds SLV because JPMorgan is their custodian, and of whether they are actually holding any real physical metal or not, is... if they are supposedly holding the metal, and their holdings must reflect the price increases of silver, meaning that they have to issue new shares and buy physical silver when the price rises... then where the hell are they sourcing this silver from? They purportedly are seeing huge inflows on some days, yet other entities like Sprott or CEF are having a heck of a time, sometimes requiring months, to secure much smaller amounts of silver that SLV implies is sourced on a daily basis. What's wrong with that picture???

[timmus0382]

I guess what I'm greeting at is how do you value spot if all you could buy was physical and all paper was eliminated. Would spot skyrocket or crash? Is the only way to find the metals true value getting rid of all the speculation?

[Copper Catcher]

If you go to this page: http://us.ishares.com/product_info/fund ... ew/SLV.htm

You will see listed on the left hand side of the page a list of what bars that are suppose to have the inventory of the actual bars held i.e. a 5727 page list. The total is: 363,418,567.9.

http://us.ishares.com/product_info/fund ... ew/SLV.htm

The real question is: Are they allocated or unallocated? Who knows? Personally I would rather hold it in my hand versus have someone tell me with a wink and a nod that they are holding it in a vault in London or New York.

[argent_pur]

I guess what I'm greeting at is how do you value spot if all you could buy was physical and all paper was eliminated. Would spot skyrocket or crash? Is the only way to find the metals true value getting rid of all the speculation?

It really depends on how much the paper is backed by physical. None of us are privy to that information

[68Camaro]

What I want to know, regardless of the endless debate that surrounds SLV because JPMorgan is their custodian, and of whether they are actually holding any real physical metal or not, is... if they are supposedly holding the metal, and their holdings must reflect the price increases of silver, meaning that they have to issue new shares and buy physical silver when the price rises... then where the hell are they sourcing this silver from? They purportedly are seeing huge inflows on some days, yet other entities like Sprott or CEF are having a heck of a time, sometimes requiring months, to secure much smaller amounts of silver that SLV implies is sourced on a daily basis. What's wrong with that picture???

How do we really know that (the huge inflow) is true? I don't think we do.

[beauanderos]

What I want to know, regardless of the endless debate that surrounds SLV because JPMorgan is their custodian, and of whether they are actually holding any real physical metal or not, is... if they are supposedly holding the metal, and their holdings must reflect the price increases of silver, meaning that they have to issue new shares and buy physical silver when the price rises... then where the hell are they sourcing this silver from? They purportedly are seeing huge inflows on some days, yet other entities like Sprott or CEF are having a heck of a time, sometimes requiring months, to secure much smaller amounts of silver that SLV implies is sourced on a daily basis. What's wrong with that picture???

How do we really know that (the huge inflow) is true? I don't think we do.

My point exactly. I suspect that they may have started out with good intentions... but there is no way that they can keep up with this price rise if they are supposed to be matching it with physical bars! These various media that are reporting SLV's holdings must take it as gospel when the administrators say "yep, that's right."