CFTC drafts new regulations to stop manipulators

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The US commodity futures regulator is looking into claims by a former JP Morgan trader in London that JPMorgan Chase was involved in manipulative silver trading, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a person close to the situation. Reuters reports that in recent months, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) lawyers have interviewed employees of JPMorgan in its metals trading business, the newspaper said. Along with JPMorgan, CFTC lawyers have also interviewed industry traders, commodity executives, experts and employees of other metals trading firms, The Journal said. Ray Bashford, a spokesman for JPMorgan in Hong Kong, said the bank had no comment when contacted by Bloomberg News today.

It is hard to know how important Chilton's comments are with regard to the ongoing silver manipulation allegations.

They suggest that he himself agrees with the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) allegations that silver prices are manipulated. If the CFTC prosecutes those who may have manipulated gold and silver markets (as Chilton urged today) and violated commodities laws then it could lead to further volatility and higher prices. This would especially be the case if the large concentrated short positions on the COMEX, held by banks such as JP Morgan, were forced to cover their positions.

This may lead to a short squeeze that could propel silver above $30 and towards its nominal high of $50/oz in the coming months.