The changes in the silver ETFs and funds were a little more in keeping with recent price weakness, even though for the most part they are well up on the year as shown below.
What surprised me was the loss of about 320 tonnes of silver from SLV from Nov 1 until last Friday.
I downloaded the inventory history of SLV and verified Nick's numbers. And in doing so I realized that just looking at tonnes is not adequate, because the huge size of SLV exaggerates the nominal changes. A 300 tonnes move in SLV inventory seems to be more 'normal' than one might expect.
I have included a third chart that shows the fluctuations in the SLV inventory. I think it is in keeping with the high beta in the price of silver. You have to wonder though, if there really is that much physical silver moving around the markets, or if there might not be some other factors in play that 'smooth' that high silver volatility in the inventory levels out.
