"Skillful accumulation is what my observation has been telling me as well. this market is trading just like I used to try and trade illiquid junk bond names that I was trying to buy - hit the market's bid side for a bit and try to shake out sellers and fill in with your own bid...feels like that's what's happening out there right now."
Denver Dave
It was option expiration on the Comex today and they hit the metals again hard, but earlier than usual.
My friend Dave made that comment above early this morning, and I thought he was right. This was not so much a real bear raid as a chance to skin the naive amongst the options traders and holders of miners and funds, and then cover shorts and get a little long.
They keep hitting the miners, probably taking gains there in addition to what they can wring out of the metal itself.
If you have to ask how and if I traded this today, then you have not been following the action. Buy strength, sell weakness, while the trend remains intact. I did add shorts on the stock indices near the top of the day at resistance as insurance, as I was picking up a few miners and higher volatility things in addition to bullion. I have an open mind on the stocks, but think it will take a 'trigger event' to really bring them down in a serious correction.
I liked the early hit, as it gave me time to go out and buy some fresh vegetables and fish. My wife usually does all the shopping but she is not feeling so well. She does scrutinize all my purchases carefully however, especially the prices paid. And if I have paid too much, oi yoi!
I do not now how many calls actually translated into new futures positions, but if there are enough it is traditional for Blythe and crew to give them at least one more 'gut check' before letting the markets return to their natural trend, whatever that might be.
As a reminder, the US will report its Non-Farm Payrolls for March on Friday April 1. The metals are typically hit on such occasion as well. We are also ending the first quarter. It could be an interesting week with quite a few cross currents.
I had an interview with Chris Martenson and it is now available here.
