I dont really want to spark a whose manipulating the gold market story here simon, tho if you'd like we can discuss on email. In short (pun intended) the bullion banks JPMorgan HSBC and to a lesser degree Deuche Bank. The sheer volume of their short positions would indicate this. The bottom line is why is phycial metal so hard to come by (without large premiums) yet the price of the metals doesnt breakout (which would reduce supply and hence premiums) Thats the one argument, The other is that gov's (specifially the FED) through its various arms (ie JPMorgan) dont want the precious metal prices to rise just like they dont want long term treasury rates to rise. Why because the rising rates and metal prices show the inflation that is being generated by the central banks of the world. They are effectivly trying to talk down "inflation expectations" (dont even get me started on the fact that the US remove food and energy from their CPI) Bottom line if the public knew how money was being created throught the central banks and fractional reserve system they would be very very very scared and would look for a store of value. 4000 years of recorded history shows that EVERY government has debased its currency yet leading to inflation whereas gold has held its value (ie an ounce of gold today will buy you the same amount of goods and services that it did 10, 50, 100 years ago) Damn I got started even tho I didnt want to :) I could be wrong of course but I believe what I choose to believe.