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More Free Gold From SilverGoldBull
Uncertainty Here And Abroad Feeding Bears And Dollar Bulls
RIP Mark Bavis and 9/11 and how to perpetuate the ponzi
Gold withstands massive attack/ Global Bourses falter
Jim Rogers — The Simple Logic For Investing in Commodities
Sky's the Limit for Precious Metals Now: Eric Sprott
Here Comes The Non-Boring Weekend: G7 Says "Central Banks Ready To Provide Liquidity As Required"
Marc Faber Interview at King World News
Trading Comments, 10 September 2011 (posted 14h15 CET):
The Three Tier Plan | How to Invest in Precious Metals
Traderrog’s Rules For Successful Trading And Investing
BrotherJohnF – Silver Update – 9.9.11
Gold is about understanding the events that got us here and how they will unfold
Merk Sells Euro to Buy Australian Dollar
The Political and Economic Agenda for a Real Gold Standard
Has Hedging Killed The Goose That Was To Lay The Golden Egg?
Gods Gold : the story of Rockefeller and his times
Closing Tables for Week Ending September 9
Summer Rerun: A Conflict of Interest is Not a Conflict of Interest If It Involves Goldman
Rare Gold Coins Versus Stocks
Richard Russell,read carefully-
WATCH – If Hitler Was a GoldBug
A Quick Look At The World's Largest Gold ETF
Friday ETF Roundup: VXX Surges On Market Woes, PBW Dips On Bad News
GDX And GDXJ: It's Time To Buy
The Asian Case For Philip Morris International
Bernanke de la Mancha and the Synchronisation of Business Cycles
REPOSTED: WATCH – How Silver Coins Are Minted
A Brief History Of Gold Declines
Gold alert: An alarming update from Europe

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 03:42 AM PDT

If there is one thing we have learned about our good friends at SilverGoldBull.com it is that they not only like selling gold and silver to people, but they also like giving it away. So when we announced that Great Panther Silver had offered to take over from SGB as this year's sponsor of our "Miners Challenge", it was not a surprise to see a note in my inbox a few days later from Bobby Belandis of SilverGoldBull.

It seems that SGB has once again gotten the "itch" to give away some more of their bullion. While Great Panther has brought a bunch of its silver to give away in our miners contest, SilverGoldBull has decided to give away some of its gold. This will be very convenient for those members of our audience who want to win prizes from both contests – but don't want their own "silver/gold ratio" to get out of whack.

Bobby noted that SGB was hosting this contest on their own site this time, rather than on our site. My reply was that this would not be a problem, as Bullion Bulls Canada readers are neither "too proud" nor "too lazy" to follow the SilverGoldBull banner to their site to register.

Regular readers know our modus operandi for these contests: we make people work for their prizes. You either have to pick the best miner, ask us some challenging question, or simply do a lot of posting on our site. On the other hand, SilverGoldBull is making winning free gold on their site as easy as possible. Here are the contest details:

- Sign up for a FREE account to be entered in their monthly draw for a 1-oz Gold Maple Leaf

- Those with existing accounts need to log-in at least once a month to remain eligible

- Only one "account" per person

- No purchase necessary

Once people have registered for their free, SilverGoldBull account then they instantly become eligible for exclusive discounts which SGB offers their clients (along with their promo codes). They will also receive free "Market Alerts" and "Precious Metals Market News".

Of course this contest is not for everyone. Some people are simply "immune" to the aesthetic appeal of these beautiful metals, and are not impressed by the 5,000 year track-record of gold as a perfect vessel for storing one's wealth. Other people already have their homes filled with clutter – and simply have no space to store these 1-oz coins.

However, for those of you who do find these beautiful, glittering coins attractive; who do want to protect your wealth by having it stored in gold (or silver); and who can find "space" for one (or more) of these 1-oz Maples, what are you waiting for?

Uncertainty Here And Abroad Feeding Bears And Dollar Bulls

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 03:00 AM PDT

By Andrew Sachais:

Over the preceding months the markets have closely followed the actions of the Fed in hopes of receiving some sort of relief from a seemingly deteriorating environment. Every instance of Bernanke addressing the public has been seen as an opportunity for Fed intervention. Although these beliefs are uncharacteristic of Fed implementation of policy over previous years, market participants continued to hope for something tangible. Much like yesterday, on each occasion the market has been left unsatisfied. This "clinging to a dream" mentality has left the equity market's movement sporadic, and ultimately has heightened insecurity artificially in a period where such emotions are unproductive.

The charts above track the SPY, in an attempt to gauge equity market behavior over the past 3 months. After the initial decline in August, the markets have acted with QE3 in mind. Initially, a further worsening environment led many to believe that easing was probable. This

Complete Story »

RIP Mark Bavis and 9/11 and how to perpetuate the ponzi

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 02:32 AM PDT

I would like to open up this weekend with my thoughts on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 'attacks.' I lost a good friend, Mark Bavis, in the periphery 'attack' plane that did not strike the towers. So before anyone criticizes me, my words, my thoughts, please do remember that someone I knew is dead because of this. If at any time you believe I am being insincere to the 3000 lives or so lives that were lost please be prepared to click the 'X' at the top right of this browser, do not read anymore from here, there should be a good football game on to catch or something, dont waste your time here. Thank you for understanding that I am different, and I have spend most of my adult life researching the Federal Reserve AND the 9/11 events.

Before I start I would like to add a short clip form the LA Times on the Bavis situation:

"There were 5,560 claims filed with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which dispensed more than $7 billion to victims and their families on the condition that they would not file lawsuits. Other victims and families filed suits but settled before trial.

The Bavises refused to settle, traveling an emotionally rutted road to learn why Mark died.

"It's the very basic principle of right and wrong and accountability," Mike Bavis said. "For my family, we've never been able to get past the point of moving forward on the level of accountability and exposure as to what the facts were regarding this event. If you don't expose the fact and let the information out, you just enable the next company, the next industry, to be grossly negligent and then claim ignorance."

Mike Bavis said a "dramatic" amount of information about threats existed before 9/11, contradicting arguments that the attacks were unimaginable. "For there to be inaction on the airlines' part was nothing more than negligence based on a profit motive," he said.

"Our hope is that the legal system still can work the way it was meant. It's unacceptable that my brother had to spend the last 21 minutes of his life in the type of situation that he had to. It's unacceptable, given what we believe was known prior to 9/11 and the inaction by the airlines and the security companies. It's what motivated us to stay strong through this test of will.""

I'm sure the LA Times (owned by you know who) omitted some comments.

Click here to read more...

Here we go.

The 9/11 'attacks' were no attacks at all. Its hard to imagine a freight liner filled with cargo to be filled with people. There is no such thing as al-Qaedaa, and some boggy moogy man behind the scenes that Obama just captured and killed. If you know your history, this should be no surprise. None. Nada. Zilch. I am assuming that 98% of all my readers are all on the same page so this should not be alarming to anyone, at all, and I will not waste away more life listing the 100 reasons that this was obviously not done by 19 hijackers with box cutters.

For the 2% of you that still remain in Disney Land, and over the last 10 years I have come to the conclusion that 9/11 was done to get out of a recession, increase domestic citizen and foreign data collecting, and to help the State of Israel continue its domestic terror on its neighbors with the help of the USA.

Lets rewind back to 2001 and the previous year of 2000. We had an EPIC Wall Street crash filled with frauds galore, and the country fell off a cliff. The attention needed to be quickly diverted from the hungry money mongering thieves to the dumb 'believe anything public.' We all know War makes money (for rich people), so the 9/11 false flag was orchestrated, the media (owned by you know who) smeared the Arab/muslim world, USA invades, defense companies charge US taxpayers $2000 for toilet seats, money is printed, and voila, you have a fake booming ponzi continuing economy again. Israel gets stronger as its AIPAC lobby buys Washington up with cheap Alan Greenspan FRN's, and continues the rape and pillage of anything in its way, and its all okayed by the USA (since Washington is now overwhelmingly run by Zionists), but NO other country...maybe England, whom is also run by you know who.

I could literally write a large dissertation on this, but I wont. I do not care for it anymore. Its old news but every year I run into those slimy little arrogant pricks that try to convince me that 9/11 was real and the natural events that occurred after it were normal.

I hope everyone realizes that the sole purpose of many of the USA's intentions right now are largely tipping the scale for Israels gain. Just know that this is my stance, and as long as we have a USA/Israel unification, YOUR old world as Americans is OVER. Just thank Michael Chertoff. And those voting for Obama this year might want to realize that the only thing he has 'changed' is the amount of Zionists in his administration.

I have now wasted 30 minutes of my life on this. So I am moving on. Comments are welcome, this should be good.

______________________________________________________________________________

We had a pretty neutral COT report this week. Nothing to even report. That was expected. If you look at the charts of both gold and silver we are experiencing a lot of gaps. Gaps are when the market opens at a higher or lower price that the previous session. There are gaps because Asia and Europe trade the night before and then the North American Markets open. The entire week was gapping up and down because of the volatile Europe sessions and China margins increases. Expect this to continue next week as we approach the Sept Shalom Bernanke announcement of 'easing' lol.

If you didnt notice the JPM chart, you should bring it up. This along with a few other financial stocks look like death. JPM is at lows again not seen in some time. Be very aware if you are long here.

I have picked up some AMZN puts as I am gambling on a watershed selloff in the markets next week if we have some more Greek default action. If we dont, I'll get taken to the cleaners for sure.

Welcome to trading options. You win some you loose some, just make sure the winners are bigger than the losers.

The website is coming along. I am testing it more and more to make sure we are ready for a launch soon.

Enjoy the weekend, get some rest....the week ahead will be painful in some respects if you are not able to hold down the food on the roller coaster.

Gold withstands massive attack/ Global Bourses falter

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 12:59 AM PDT

Jim Rogers — The Simple Logic For Investing in Commodities

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 12:40 AM PDT

Share/SaveObviously, the twists and turns of the economy are complex and difficult to foresee. Jim Rogers, however, provides an excellent, succinct explanation for gold and other commodities, describing them as a "heads I win and tails I win" situation. Nothing is so simple and nothing is guaranteed. Yet, it does seem to be a nicely [...]

Sky's the Limit for Precious Metals Now: Eric Sprott

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 12:40 AM PDT

¤ Yesterday in Gold and Silver

About an hour after I filed my Friday column in the wee hours of the morning, the bullion banks launched another coordinated attack on the precious metals that began at precisely 11:00 a.m. BST in London. In about thirty minutes they had peeled about $45 off the gold price before the selling stopped.

A rally of sorts developed starting at 1:00 p.m. in London...which was 8:00 a.m. Eastern time right on the button. This rally took the price back up to just about Friday's close, before it got sold off again. Then a smallish rally developed in the thinly traded New York Access Market...and gold only finished down $11 spot on the day.

It doesn't take a masters degree in common sense to figure out that if 'da boyz' hadn't shown up in London...and probably in New York at times during their trading day...gold would have finished the week in spectacular fashion. Volume was pretty chunky.

Silver's price path was very similar to gold's...and the big rally that began at precisely 12 o'clock noon in New York, wasn't allowed to go very far before a not-for-profit seller showed up as silver was about to blast through Thursday's closing price.

From its New York high at around 12:15 p.m...to its close at 5:15 p.m...silver got sold off for about a dollar, closing down 96 cents from Thursday. Volume was pretty decent.

Here's the dollar chart for the last five days...including the Labour Day holiday. As you can see, the dollar has been rising all week...and it's obvious that there's no co-relation with the gold price at all. And gold itself would have finished much higher this week if it hadn't been for what GATA consultant Reg Howe calls "malignant government intervention".

The precious metal stocks continue to amaze me. Despite the fact that the gold price was down significantly when the equity markets opened...and the precious metal stocks gapped down...that buyer with very deep pockets showed up immediately...and bought more cheap gold equities for a significant part of the day.

The fact that the Dow cratered yesterday certainly kept the gold stocks on the defensive...but Mr. Deep Pockets was buying everything that fell off the table. Once the gold and silver price peaked at 12:15 p.m. yesterday, the stocks rolled over a bit...and the HUI finished down 1.06% on the day. It should have been worse...much worse...but we should all hold hands and thank the big buyer for saving us again.

Here's the 5-day HUI...which includes Friday, September 2nd, since Monday was a holiday. The HUI finished up about 1.6% on the week...and that's despite the two coordinated attacks on gold...the one at 11:00 a.m. in London yesterday morning...and the one in the thinly-traded Far East market during the Hong Kong lunch hour on Wednesday.

The silver shares turned in a rotten performance...and Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index really got whacked yesterday, as it was down 3.51%

(Click on image to enlarge)

The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that 56 gold and one whole silver contract were posted for delivery on Tuesday.

Despite the JPMorgan-sponsored smack down in gold yesterday...the GLD ETF added 337,962 troy ounces...and SLV showed no change.

The U.S. Mint finally had a sales report worthy of the name this month. They sold 15,000 ounces of gold eagles...4,000 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes...along with another 476,000 silver eagles. Month-to-date sales show that the mint has sold 18,000 ounces of gold eagles...4,000 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes...and 651,000 silver eagles.

It was another busy day over at the Comex-approved depositories on Thursday. They only received 3,077 ounces of silver, but shipped 1,334,791 troy ounces of the stuff out the door. The numbers are worth the look...and the link is here.

Yesterday's Commitment of Traders Report showed that the Commercial traders increased their net short position by 2,158 contracts, which is 10.8 million ounces. There was almost no corresponding change in the technical fund long position which I was delighted to see...and it was the small traders that were on the long side of the trade against the Commercials.

The Commercial net short position in silver now sits at 236.5 million ounces. The '4 or less' traders hold 201.4 million ounces of that...and the '5 through 8' traders are short an additional 66.9 million ounces. The 'big 8' in silver are short more silver than the entire net short position, which means if they weren't there, the remaining small traders [Ted Butler's raptors] would be net long in the Comex silver futures market.

There are 45 traders that hold short positions in silver in the Commercial category. If you subtract the 'big eight' you're left with 37 traders. Using Grade 3 arithmetic, each one of thirty-seven traders, on average, holds 654 Comex short contracts in silver, which is 3.27 million ounces. It should be obvious to anyone where the real price control lies...and I'll have more to say about that when I get into the Bank Participation Report.

Anyway, in gold, the Commercial traders increased their net short position by 10,359 contracts..which is a bit more than a million ounces on the week. The Commercial net short position [the Commercial long position minus the Commercial short position] as of the close of trading on Tuesday, September 6th, stood at 22.8 million ounces.

The '4 or less' Commercial traders are short 14.6 million ounces...and the '5 through 8' traders are short 5.0 million ounces...so you can see that the bullion banks aren't anywhere near as short in the gold market as they are in silver.

And, in case you've forgotten, the 'Big 8' Commercial traders in both gold and silver are all bullion banks.

The September Bank Participation Report, which is data extracted from Tuesday's COT report, showed that less than 4 [probably 2] U.S. bullion banks were short 24,584 Comex silver contracts...and held only 725 long contracts. That works out to 119.3 million ounces held short by two U.S. banks...and I would guess that at least 95% of that short position is held by JPMorgan.

Compared to August's BPR...these two U.S. bullion banks actually increased their net short position by about 1,100 contract during the prior month.

Now for the [probably 12] foreign banks' positions in Comex silver. These 12 banks held 3,096 long contracts and 2,781 short contracts. So, between the twelve of them, they are net long 315 Comex contracts...or 1,575,000 ounces. This is barely a rounding error in JPMorgan's entire silver short position!!! I would also bet that the lion's share of the 2,781 contracts held short by non-U.S. banks is held by the Bank of Nova Scotia...and maybe one other bank.

But it matters not. The foreign banks are all bit players in this...and the 800 pound gorilla on the short side of the Comex silver market is JPMorgan...and that's exactly what this report shows.

But the report showed a substantial change in the U.S. banks' short position in gold...as the four U.S. banks reporting, decreased their short position in gold by 22,000 contracts...or 2.2 million ounces. As of Tuesday, these four banks were net short 84,354 Comex contracts in gold...or 8.43 million ounces, down from 10.64 million ounces in the August report.

The eighteen non-U.S. banks actually increased their Comex short position in gold by about 3,700 contracts....and these eighteen banks are net short 38,286 Comex contracts...or 3.83 million ounces as of Tuesday.

We're awfully close to crunch time...and as I've said more than a few times...we've come to the end of the road for the world's economic, financial and monetary system as it currently exists.

Markets take fright as ECB official quits in bond row. As Greece Denies, Germany Begins Greek Default Preparations. World Entering 'Dangerous New Phase' - Lagarde

¤ Critical Reads

Bank of America is doomed, says Chris Whalen

This dour outlook has nothing to do with the company's operating businesses, which Whalen thinks are fine. In fact, says Whalen, there's no need for the bank to be restructuring them and firing thousands of employees [40,000 is the latest estimate] to improve its bottom line.

The part of Bank of America that's not fine, in Whalen's view, is the ongoing liability from the mortgage underwriting that Bank of America's subsidiaries did during the housing bubble. The litigation exposure from this could be so humongous, Whalen argues, that it will bankrupt the company, forcing regulators to step in and restructure it. And Whalen doesn't think the country should wait for that day.

This story was posted over at posted over at businessinsider.com early yesterday morning...and I thank reader U.D for sending it along. The link is here.

View full GSD edition

Obama's Job Package 'a Complete Joke' - Mark Faber

The package is "another complete failure of Keynesian economics and corrupt interventions," Faber told CNBC.com on Friday morning.

Not too many shades of gray here. I note that the story, which was sent to me by reader Craig McCarty, does not include the video of the interview...only a transcript of the highlights...which are well worth the read...and the link is here.

View full GSD edition

Marc Faber Interview at King World News

This interview was posted early yesterday...and I get the impression that the actual interview was done earlier this week. I haven't listened to all of it, but it's probably more than worth your time. Needless to say, the subject of gold and silver comes up. The link to the KWN interview is here.

View full GSD edition

Economic gloom piles pressure on G7 finance talks

France has called for a "coordinated response" to the global debt crisis in the run-up to Friday's meeting of G7 countries in the French city of Marseilles late Friday afternoon, following major falls on world stock markets in recent weeks.

G7 finance chiefs meet on Friday under heavy pressure to take action to revive flagging economic growth and calm the biggest confidence crisis in financial markets since the global credit crunch.

Well, it's "print, or die" time...and the world's stock markets have already passed judgment. Both gold and silver were in the process of doing that as well, until 11:00 a.m. in London yesterday morning. I thank Roy Stephens for this story that's posted over at the france24.com website yesterday...and the link is here.

View full GSD edition

Here Comes The Non-Boring Weekend: G7 Says "Central Banks Ready To Provide Liquidity As Required"

The G-7 is in full panic mode. The organization for the prevention of harm to the Status Quo was expected to release a communiqué possibly over the weekend, but the speed with which one was dropped for mass circulation is stunning and confirms that its members are in full meltdown as the weekend comes. It is now certain that the G-7 will attempt some major intervention over the next 48 hours to inject a last dose of hope into capital markets, or else the Monday open will be an epic collapse.

This story was posted over at zerohedge.com yesterday...and was sent to me by reader 'David in California'. It's worth the read...and the link is here.

View full GSD edition

World Entering 'Dangerous New Phase': Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned that the global economy is entering a "dangerous new phase" on Friday, ahead of the G7 summit in Marseilles, France.

She warned that both advanced and emerging economies faced key economic challenges, and that governments must "act now" to stop further contagion.

"Policymakers should stand ready, as needed, to take more action to support the recovery, including through unconventional measures," Lagarde said.

I wonder what 'unconventional measures' they're going to dream up? The story is posted over at cnbc.com...and I thank reader Scott Pluschau for sharing it with us. The link is here.

View full GSD edition

Here Comes The Non-Boring Weekend: G7 Says "Central Banks Ready To Provide Liquidity As Required"

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 12:40 AM PDT

Here Comes The Non-Boring Weekend: G7 Says "Central Banks Ready To Provide Liquidity As Required"

Marc Faber Interview at King World News

Posted: 10 Sep 2011 12:40 AM PDT

Marc Faber Interview at King World News

Trading Comments, 10 September 2011 (posted 14h15 CET):

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 11:15 PM PDT

Gold made a new record high this past week, as I suspected it might. But I was surprised by what happened thereafter. Not only did gold drop back one more time to test support at $1840, it

The Three Tier Plan | How to Invest in Precious Metals

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 11:00 PM PDT

"Financial advisers have long recommended that you keep 5% to 10% of your portfolio in gold in case of financial crisis: a period of spiraling inflation, for example, or a time when popular uprisings force you to flee Libya." -David Goldman, USA TODAY Personal Finance Columnist If you had invested five percent of your portfolio [...]

Traderrog’s Rules For Successful Trading And Investing

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 10:15 PM PDT

These Ideas Apply To Any Account Size. There are three types of outcomes in trading and investing: (1) You win and make a gain (2) You break even, or (3) You post a loss. Gains and breaking even are both winners. When you break even you only lost a potential chance to make money…you didn't lose any money. Losses are okay and to be expected. However, contain them to small losses and this fine. The nasty big no-no is taking a large loss. Recovery time is long and emotionally it messes with your head. One big loss can ruin your account for a year or worse, forever.

All the very top, successful traders say, "If you can control risk the wins take care of themselves." If you cannot control risk, you lose your capital and are out of the game and can no longer be an investor or trader. CONTROL RISK FIRST, LAST AND ALWAYS. When a trade goes-on or you purchase an investment, play the what if game…have an exit plan and price, and clearly understand what you will do without thinking about it if the trade goes sour. Have both posted and mental stops. If you go on vacation or are away from communications leave your broker written instructions, install a risk stop or get out of the trades.

Try to find a niche where you are most comfortable and stick with it. Focus on this sector and learn as much as you can about your personal style of trading and the markets you prefer. Everyone has something they prefer to do within their own comfort zone. My personal choice is futures and commodities because that is where I began in this business. Others select only stocks. Some prefer the credit markets for trading bonds and other credit related trades. Some others want to trade all the time and are busy with options calls and puts. About 90% of our readers like the stocks only.

I've studied the very wealthy traders and almost all of them either manage a fund or they focus on a small sector where they are champions. Remember George Soros' famous trade where he was short the English Pound for nearly three years and earned over a billion dollars? That was only one trade. In the study of Jesse Livermore's trading he focused on both stocks and commodities but was most often out of all markets just watching and waiting for the best set-ups. Further, when he had one big trade on, most of the rest of his normal markets were just set aside. This is how the big money is made. These chances do not come along very often but if you can recognize them and get aboard, the ride can be incredible.

You can be a trader or an investor but most cannot do both. Full-time traders and investors often have two accounts. One is for investing only and they rarely buy or sell in that account. The trading accounts get the most action in this case and is normally watched daily by active, pro-day traders.

We have heard of numerous stories about individuals trading on-line. Especially when you are trading in larger size these types of trades can get very tricky very quickly. My personal preference is never day trade or trade on-line but swing trade over weeks or months using the services of a top notch broker. Even the big boy fund managers and their employees use multiple brokers for numerous reasons. I can tell horror stories for hours about folks trading on-line and losing huge amounts of money. Does it work most of the time? Sure it does, but if one big trade goes bad it will really hurt you.

If you own too many companies you cannot follow them all or manage these trades. Retail fund managers encourage customers to buy 40-50 stocks and trade often. This shows "action-activity" and churns the accounts creating lots of broker commissions for stock brokers. The better stock traders we know do not trade more than 10-20 stocks and most of them are in only a handful. New York mutual fund brokers preach diversification.

One of the best stock pickers we know says this is stupid as it offers more chances for failure and mediocrity. Get the best of the best and watch them closely.

Keep some cash in reserve so that if a special opportunity pops-up you can go in immediately. If your account is 100% committed you are over-trading.

The toughest rule to follow is to stay with a winner and not exit prematurely. This one is difficult for me too. Jesse Livermore was so tough if a trade backed up on him and lost big earned-money he had held in his hand he would just dismiss it and say that was house money and means nothing.

Emotional control is difficult for any trader or investor. The way to overcome this problem is by planning. If you have an annual calendar plan and select the cycles within the whole year in advance for most sectors of trading, you can calm down. When a new trade or investment goes on; have a stop, a goal and some firm rules for things that go right or wrong. As long as you do not overtrade, or trade too much on a single position you can sleep at night and know exactly what to do if the unexpected arrives. These tips will remove emotional turmoil enabling a clear head for the process. Pit traders are so good at this they can do 100-150 trades a session and take small losses without even thinking or blinking.

The reason I like futures and commodities is it removes so many variables found in a stock. This does not mean stocks are more difficult; they are just different. In futures trading is just high, low, open, close and time. It's just you against the market and prices. If you are a technician or chartist, you can trade anything as long as you have the right chart information. I know some guys who can trade charts and not even know have the market sector or title…they just read charts and trade them.

Choose a stock or a market with deep liquidity so you can get good prices both ways. For example I would never trade cocoa as the price is determined each day by, which rebel gang is winning on the Ivory Coast. Stay away from stuff like that. The long bond market was always the big boy with thousands of contracts. But now, with Bernanke playing credit God, traders have no idea where the prices are going or when some Black Swan manipulation will fly in and ruin a good trending trade.

If you are trading gold futures right now you better have at minimum of $15,000 in your account as the margin is $7425 per contract. Further, the daily trading ranges are not $3 to $5 any more but more like $50 to $60. I would recommend a gold futures trading account have at least $25,000 and $50,000 is better.

If you have a small amount of assets just buy silver coins until your stash gets bigger. Trying to trade with very limited capital will hurt you as you are too close to a wipeout on a daily basis.

Avoid tips from everyone including brokers, friends and others. Make your own mistakes and learn the business. Most all of us including me have or will lose money when you start out as a newbie.

Read and learn as much as you can about you favorite sector or market and follow the successful traders and investors. Some of my choice and nasty mistakes have been tips from others. Go and make your own decisions but pay a commission to get service. One of my pet peeves is a comment that commissions are too large or, I will not pay a broker any thing and just trade on-line by myself.

To those thoughts I just say good luck. You are going to need it. If a broker can make you 10-20% on a trade why begrudge him or her a fair commission? It makes no sense. Some of the biggest and the best may have as many as 50 brokers and will pay a fortune for super-fast T-One lines connected directly to their pit brokers.

Jesse Livermore told us the best traders (not investors) are smart observers, have a good memory, are good at fast math and learn from their experiences both good and bad. Sometimes your gut instincts are excellent. Livermore made several super trades for no reason when his tummy said yea or nay.

Most good trades act right at the very inception. If a trade waffles or chops with no trend; just dump it fast and re-study the idea. When you are out thoughts are most clear and you think better with no pressures.

We do not necessarily like the word investor. An investor is one who buys a position and hold on for months or years. With manipulated markets being the norm and credit markets so out of kilter, we say buy and hold will ruin you. As a minimum on a stock we want to see +20% within 90 or less and less is better. Annually near June 1 and the four weeks from 9-15 to 10-15 each year you have a very good chance for substantial losses. You can invest or trade through them in certain markets you understand risk and know what you are doing. By example the DOW has not gone anywhere for a decade. How good a deal was that for buy and hold?

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

BrotherJohnF – Silver Update – 9.9.11

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 10:09 PM PDT

Brother John's ABC's:

~TVR

Gold is about understanding the events that got us here and how they will unfold

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 05:00 PM PDT

Merk Sells Euro to Buy Australian Dollar

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 04:43 PM PDT

The Political and Economic Agenda for a Real Gold Standard

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 04:00 PM PDT

Mises.org

Has Hedging Killed The Goose That Was To Lay The Golden Egg?

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 04:00 PM PDT

Gold University

Gods Gold : the story of Rockefeller and his times

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 04:00 PM PDT

Mises.org

Closing Tables for Week Ending September 9

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 03:07 PM PDT

Just below is this week's closing table, followed by the CFTC disaggregated commitments of traders (DCOT) recap for the week ending September 9, 2011.

If the images are too small click on them for a larger version.

Comments: We will have commentary on the changes in a new report for subscribers likely late Sunday, early Monday at the latest.

Vultures, (Got Gold Report Subscribers) please note completely new chart links for most of the technical charts, now available on the subscriber pages. Updates to the new charts should be done by the usual time (18:00 ET) on Sunday.

Continued…

Gold and Silver Disaggregated COT Report (DCOT)

In the DCOT table below a net short position shows as a negative figure in red. A net long position shows in black. In the Change column, a negative number indicates either an increase to an existing net short position or a reduction of a net long position. A black figure in the Change column indicates an increase to an existing long position or a reduction of an existing net short position. The way to think of it is that black figures in the Change column are traders getting "longer" and red figures are traders getting shorter.

All of the trader's positions are calculated net of spreading contracts as of the Tuesday disaggregated COT report.

Summer Rerun: A Conflict of Interest is Not a Conflict of Interest If It Involves Goldman

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 03:01 PM PDT

This post first appeared on May 4, 2009

The "all animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others" logic appears to operate in full force as far as Goldman is concerned. Violations of normal rules of conduct are not merely tolerated, but are asserted to be acceptable.

Now admittedly, the latest news tidbit, of former Goldman co-chairman Steven Friedman staying on as chairman of the New York Fed after Goldman became a bank holding company, isn't as troubling as when current Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein was the only Wall Street denizen to meet with Hank Paulson when the Treasury was deciding what to do about AIG. Readers may recall that Goldman had the biggest exposure to AIG and thus had the most to benefit from a course of action that would be generous to counterparties (who had chosen of their own cognizance to enter into contracts with the big insurer).

What is disturbing about the Wall Street Journal is the moral blindness of too many of the key actors, namely Friedman himself and some Fed officials. Let's parse some of the key bits of the Wall Street Journal story:

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York shaped Washington's response to the financial crisis late last year, which buoyed Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other Wall Street firms. Goldman received speedy approval to become a bank holding company in September and a $10 billion capital injection soon after.
During that time, the New York Fed's chairman, Stephen Friedman, sat on Goldman's board and had a large holding in Goldman stock, which because of Goldman's new status as a bank holding company was a violation of Federal Reserve policy.
The New York Fed asked for a waiver, which, after about 2½ months, the Fed granted. While it was weighing the request, Mr. Friedman bought 37,300 more Goldman shares in December. They've since risen $1.7 million in value.

Yves here. It's bad enough that Friedman owned Goldman shares while involved in policy discussions that would affect the bank. The fact that he went and bought more shares is breathtaking. Of course, this shows a huge deficiency in Fed procedures. Directors should be barred from trading stocks in any institution regulated by the Fed. While it is technically not inside information (you need to be an insider of the company in question, that is, have a fiduciary duty to its shareholders), it certainly raises the specter of trading on privileged information.

It would be a scandal if someone on the FOMC were to be found to be trading interest rate futures. Being party to discussions about regulatory policy (as in having advance knowledge of how things are likely to play out) means one similarly has advance knowledge of facts that investors would find important.

Yet we get this comment from Friedman:

Last week, following questions from The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Friedman, 71 years old, disclosed he would step down from the New York Fed at year end. In an interview, he said he made the decision because the waiver letting him own Goldman stock and be a Goldman director expires at the end of the year. He added: "I see no conflict whatsoever in owning shares."

Yves here. So we get the Big Lie. A conflict is not a conflict. The Journal does find someone to take issue with this view:

Jerry Jordan, a former president of the Fed bank in Cleveland, says Mr. Friedman should have stepped down once Goldman became a bank holding company in September and thus fell under the Fed policy barring stock ownership by certain directors of Fed banks. "Any kind of financial transaction at all by any of the directors is always a problem," Mr. Jordan said. "He should have resigned."

Yves again. But we then get the Fed's defense:

New York Fed officials say that to have forced Mr. Friedman off the board while it sought a Geithner successor would have deprived it of two leaders at a crucial time.
"Steve Friedman is a very capable chairman," said Tom Baxter, the New York Fed's general counsel, "and was the kind of person who we needed to head the search" for someone to succeed Mr. Geithner.
In Washington, the Fed's general counsel, Scott Alvarez, also says Mr. Friedman was needed during the New York Fed's transition.

Yves here. While I have trouble with that notion, there appears to have been no consideration of a compromise, say having Friedman head the search committee and recuse himself from discussions and decisions that could benefit Goldman.

The article provides more detail on normal Fed procedures:

The Federal Reserve Act bars directors representing the public interest from owning bank stocks or being bank directors or officers. Because Goldman had always been an investment bank, Mr. Friedman's board membership there and his ownership of about 46,000 Goldman shares, at that time, hadn't run afoul of this rule. Now it did.
The regional Fed banks have three classes of directors: Class A, elected by member banks and representing them; Class B, elected by banks but representing the public; and Class C, representing the public but picked by the Fed. Under law, directors in Class C, including Mr. Friedman, and Class B can't be officers or directors of banks, and Class C directors like Mr. Friedman also can't own shares of banks. This means not of bank holding companies, either, by the Fed's interpretation of the 1913 law.
Mr. Baxter, the New York Fed general counsel, realized that the bank's chairman was now in violation of the Fed rules. But the institution had just lost another director, Richard Fuld Jr., a few days before the September collapse of the firm he led, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. So on Oct. 6, at the urging of New York Fed lawyers, Mr. Geithner asked the Federal Reserve Board for a waiver enabling Mr. Friedman to continue owning Goldman stock and serving on Goldman's board.
While Fed officials in Washington weighed the request, Mr. Baxter stayed in touch with a senior lawyer there, pushing for a decision, says a New York Fed official. This official says that in conversations with Mr. Friedman, who began voicing concern about the delays in December, Mr. Baxter suggested that the Fed policy should be considered to be in abeyance until the waiver came through.
Mr. Friedman's role grew more prominent in November after Mr. Geithner became the pick for Treasury secretary…
Mr. Friedman saw that Goldman's battered stock was trading below book value, or assets minus liabilities. On Dec. 17, he bought 37,300 Goldman shares at an average price of $80.78, a $3 million purchase, according to regulatory filings

Yves here. Recall that in the waning days of the Bush Administration, it wasn't clear how bank friendly the new Administration would be. Even thought Geithner was Treasury secretary designate, there was some discussion in the press as to the divergent views within the Obama economic policy team, and whether that would create creative friction or conflict. Conflict (or having Volcker, who is not a fan of innovative finance, have a strong voice) could have kept bank valuations at bay.

Thus while Goldman's stock was arguably cheap, cheap stocks can get cheaper. One of the important inputs to the wisdom of going long would be knowing how bank friendly the new Administration's policies would be. To think that Friedman didn't have some insight into that question by virtue of his advantaged position is naive.

Rare Gold Coins Versus Stocks

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 03:00 PM PDT

Goldcentral

Richard Russell,read carefully-

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 01:24 PM PDT

All of his writings have meanings and forecasts,the "speed
reader" misses much.

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/ru...ell090911.html

WATCH – If Hitler Was a GoldBug

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 01:11 PM PDT

… all it would take to end his regime would be a few CME margin hikes. Of course, if Hitler had somehow survived those 2008 margin calls, we would all be living under the 3rd Reich now with gold at all time highs.

For those who are sick of all the Hitler parodies, here is another one.

~ZProps

A Quick Look At The World's Largest Gold ETF

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 11:30 AM PDT

By Tom Lydon:

With a total value of $73 billion and holding nearly 40 million ounces of bullion, the world's largest gold exchange traded fund hoards more of the precious metal than many of the world's richest countries.

SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) is the largest physically-backed gold ETF. The fund holds gold bullion stored in London vaults and tries to reflect the price movements of gold spot prices. Each share of GLD is equivalent to a tenth of an ounce of gold.

CNBC's Bob Pisani was recently allowed to visit the vaults where the huge ETF stores its gold. The fund holds more than 1,230 metric tons of the shiny stuff.

Morningstar analyst Abraham Bailin cautions that investing in gold is highly speculative, but he also believes that the fund may serve as a reliable investment vehicle for the average investor to access the gold market.

Gold is seen as a safe haven

Complete Story »

Friday ETF Roundup: VXX Surges On Market Woes, PBW Dips On Bad News

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 11:12 AM PDT

By Jarred Cummans:

Today closed out the shortened trading week on a devastating note, as investors all around the world participated in a massive sell off. The Dow slipped over 300 points and the S&P 500 tanked 2.7%. What is more surprising is the fact that gold finished the day relatively flat. Typically, when equities tank, gold see strong gains as it is one of the few safe spots for investors who flee their equity positions. Last night saw President Obama give a major speech about the unemployment issues in our nation, outlining a $447 billion plan to bolster the economy and hiring. Apparently, the speech did little to boost investor confidence, as the eurozone spooked investors with bad news, likely prompting the massive losses on the day.

One of the major sticking points on the day was fear of a Greek default. While this has been something of an issue for roughly

Complete Story »

GDX And GDXJ: It's Time To Buy

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 10:59 AM PDT

By George Maniere:

There are two ETFs that I have overlooked - the GDX and the GDXJ. The GDX is an ETF compromised of major gold mining companies and the GDXJ is an ETF of junior mining companies.

Yesterday morning I had a conversation with a brilliant reader of mine. We spoke about precious metals, the blatant manipulation of the metals (which I am happy to report the central banks have been unable to sustain) and to point out two ETFs that I had not given their fair due.

In fairness, I first learned about the GDX from a fine young analyst but truthfully I could not get my hands around it. If I don't believe in the fundamentals of the ETF or company you can show me charts all day long, I will not buy into the trade until I am convinced that this can be a profitable trade. There have been

Complete Story »

The Asian Case For Philip Morris International

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 10:25 AM PDT

By Seth Mason:

Times are tough, and they're likely getting tougher. Famed economist Nouriel Roubini sees a "hard landing" ahead for China. According to billionaire investor George Soros, the Eurozone risks a banking failure "bigger than Bear Sterns". Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warns of the "hardest times" we've felt in our lives (read: even harder than now).

It's human nature to seek comfort products during tough economic times. Some people spend more than they otherwise would on alcohol. Others take up smoking. In Asia, cigarettes are absolutely the "recessionary comfort products" of choice.

Unfortunately, from an investor's perspective, the weak dollar makes buying into an Asian cigarette manufacturer prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, buying into a foreign market carries inherent risks that one would not experience with an equivalent investment in the domestic market. However, one can gain significant exposure to the growing Asian cigarette market with Philip Morris International (PM).

In the past fiscal

Complete Story »

Bernanke de la Mancha and the Synchronisation of Business Cycles

Posted: 09 Sep 2011 10:10 AM PDT

Will you remember where you were when the German Constitutional Court ruled on Europe's bailouts?

Daily Reckoning editor Greg Canavan will. With only minutes to go before the ruling he sent this message to the office:

Im locked out of my house. So i might miss all the action.
Sent from my iPhone

There didn't seem to be too much action in the end anyway. The court ruled as everyone expected by approving the legality of past bailouts. As we suggested though, the court's decision to make any further bailouts subject to the German parliament, more specifically the German Parliament's Budget Committee, may put a serious dampener on further bailouts. That's because politicians are feeling the heat in their electorate and may refuse to approve much more German spending on the Greek welfare system.

A more politically viable option would be to subsidise the Greek tourist industry by sending German vacationers on a free flight to Athens. They missed their chance though, with summer ending.

Regardless of goings on in Germany, Greek one-year bond yields hit a spectacular 97%. That means new buyers would nearly double their money... if Greece doesn't default.

So it may be that all's clear for bailouts, but all is not well in Europe.

In fact, economies and financial markets around the world are going haywire. Governments are making last ditch efforts to tame them. But it's a lost cause. The world is taking a turn for the worse.

Not for investors though. They stand to do rather nicely... if on the right side of the trade as this plays out.

The first act in this play (you decide whether it's a tragedy or comedy) is relatively predictable. The US dollar will rally as things get worse. That is, as banks need bailouts, governments need their debt monetised, people need welfare and prices generally tank. The US dollar's rally is basically keeping with tradition under these circumstances. It's a knee-jerk reaction - a self-fulfilling prophecy known as the flight to safety.

It's what happens in Act Two that's in question.

Here is one theory. There are few governments around the world in a moderately strong fiscal position. The Australian one is as the top end of the list. As other countries embark on endless bailouts and debt monetisation, the Australian economy will look comparatively better. That could imply, after a prolonged US dollar rally, that the Aussie dollar will end up a safer haven.

Please note that this is very different to calling the Aussie dollar a safe haven as things are now. In fact, there are reasons to be spectacularly bearish on Australia for now. China is looking shaky, the Australian house price bubble is popping, and the Aussie dollar has a long way to fall after its doubling in ten years.

The point is that Australia's position once the dust has settled will be favourable compared to other options like Europe and the US. Our government will be financially stable, again comparatively speaking. That means banks will be bail-out-able with less monetary stimulus than is required overseas. That in turn means less currency depreciation.

At some point, investors will get sick of Bernanke and whoever is in the White House. They will get sick of interventions like the one that recently saw the Swiss franc tumble 8% in minutes. They will get sick of the politics and currency wars that are rapidly going from abstract theory to painful practice. They will want to find somewhere politically boring. And as the new sitcom featuring Julia Gillard made clear on TV Wednesday night, Australia is politically boring. Again, comparatively speaking.

If the above is how things play out over coming years, savvy Australian investors have the opportunity to position themselves very nicely. First for a US dollar rally and then an Australian dollar recovery. Probably sticking to low-risk assets both times.

It will pay to keep in mind that Australia may be better placed to deal with the terrible economic issues facing the world, but those issues remain very bad. As mentioned, they are potentially terrible for Australia in the short term. If the theory above is wrong - and Australia fares so badly over coming years that our institutions end up as bad as Europe's and the US's - then that will be exposed before investors need to expose themselves to the risk of Australia not ending up the 'least bad option'. In other words, the theory will be worth binning before any action is taken. Investors would simply need to sit pretty in the US dollar.

But chances are the economic issues of the world will cause the situation in the major economic regions outside of Australia to deteriorate beyond tolerability. That's because this time is different. It's why the economic models used to predict recoveries have been confounded. Twice over. Firstly in the severity of the recession and secondly in its nature.

The first one is something we've come to think of as a synchronisation of business cycles. The second is that, this time, it's a debt deflationary depression (like the Great Depression was). Put the two together and you get a 'Synched DDD'. The distinctions are important. First, let's look at the synchronisation part.

Globalisation has forged economic ties around the world like never before. Countries used to go through prosperous times largely irrespective of each other's economic performance. As trade flourished, they began to become interdependent and competitive. Trade became a competition for who gets to export and who gets to import. War became about destroying and looting instead of invading and settling.

Since the pair of World Wars and the drawdown of the Cold War, countries have moved to a more cooperative economic framework. Originally, the US was the dominant producer and therefore the most prosperous. Then prosperity swept eastward as the Cold War wound up. The ability to go into debt disguised the demise of America's productive capacity to the benefit of countries going through the various stages of liberalisation and industrialisation. In other words, debt disguised the reduced prosperity that goes with turning from exporter to importer. From goods to services. Now that debt is maxed out. And much of Western Europe joined the economic position of the US over the last few decades.

Economies are realising it is time to pay for all the debt. That means the traditional consumers should begin to produce and vice versa.

There are several problems with the transition. Firstly, the current state of affairs, with the West consuming by borrowing and the East producing and lending, has been artificially maintained beyond its natural life cycle. And not just by debt. Also by currency manipulation on behalf of the East.

So the East has been manipulating and the West has been borrowing. There is a direct link between the two artificial props in that the East's manipulation financed the debt of the West. But it's the consequences of the interventions that are crucial. Firstly, these economic issues are now highly political. For example, US government borrowing and Chinese currency manipulation are political decisions. Without government involvement, the trade cycle would simple flow back and forth much more mildly.

Secondly, both economic regions will struggle to realign their production/consumption balance. That creates an environment where economic ills can be blamed on other government's interventions and profligate borrowing. That tension is dangerous.

So far we have looked at the synchronised nature of the problem. The way in which all major economic regions of the world face a dangerous rebalancing. We have looked at why this problem emerged and the artificial props worsening the inherent cycle of trade balances between economic regions of the world. Those props being debt and currency manipulation, which are in themselves related. All this adds up to a very serious economic issue.

But it is another aspect of debt that has the potential for turning the whole thing into an economic disaster. That's because debt exacerbates both prosperity and crises. It does this by inflating and deflating credit, which is synonymous with money in a debt-based monetary system. When gold is money, a dollar bill represents the right to claim gold. It represents a debt owed to the holder of the note or coin. But without gold backing, a dollar represents a debt to pay ... a dollar. Because nothing of real value stands behind the debt a dollar represents, it can be created infinitely and quickly. By central banks and banks when they lend.

It can also be wiped out quickly when people repay their debts. If this repayment overwhelms new borrowing, meaning that the amount of debt in the economy is falling, that equates to a falling money supply. If the money supply falls fast enough, the deflation can get so bad that the real value of debt increases despite being paid off. The more is paid off, the more deflation there is. This is a debt deflationary depression. And we're in the beginning of one.

Having digested all of the above, it's time to explain the ridiculous title of this article. Don Quixote de la Mancha is a character in a novel dubbed by some as the 'best literary work ever written'. Wikipedia explains that the main character Don Quixote becomes 'obsessed with books of chivalry, and believes their every word to be true, despite the fact that many of the events in them are clearly impossible.'

He spends his time riding around in armour and jousting with windmills he believes to be giants. As you will have guessed, Ben Bernanke is the real world's Don Quixote. He believes economic theories that are impossible and spends his time fighting the bogeymen of his imagination. But it's the windmills of the analogy that are the point here. After all, central bankers have been causing business cycles since their creation.

The importance of the windmills is in the problem of resonance. As wind turbines spin, they can create resonance. If that resonance falls in lockstep with other vibrations, say the waves of an offshore windmill or the footsteps of a bridge mounted windmill, there is a risk that the resonance will suddenly become self-sustaining and violent. What happens next is usually bad for anyone near the windmill.

The same is taking place with the synchronisation of business cycles. The resonance of cycles has fallen into lockstep. And debt levels are peaking. We have a worldwide debt deflationary depression in the making.

Until next week,

Nickolai Hubble.
The Daily Reckoning Weekend Edition