Why is this important? Because despite what everyone tells you to the contrary, markets are controlled, and Gold and Silver in particular. Technicals, sentiment, and positioning are important tools, but you need to be aware of the risk of manipulation undermining the message these tools are telling you.

So why bother with such tools at all? Why buy Gold or Silver? The banks use the same tools we do to determine when to force prices lower, which is why their behavior is predictable. Second, manipulation has an expiration date, as demonstrated in the 2000s and 1970s in particular. They cannot stop metal prices going up forever, and you want to be around for when Gold and Silver soar next. They are the most undervalued assets out there today. Plus, I follow the smart money. And China, Russia, and JP Morgan have been loading up on physical metals for years now. Central banks around the world are also repatriating their Gold from the U.S. in preparation for some major event to come. I want to be long, too, when that event occurs.

In summary, manipulation in metals is undeniable. It has become so chronic that it is now obvious and therefore predictable. Unfortunately, it can temporarily undermine or render traditional analytical tools as useless. You need to be aware of this to protect yourself when it is about to happen again, because it will.

Obviously, a healthy number of market participants share our view that the Fed is interested in stimulating the money supply and inflation, or in the very least, interested in letting the markets know it will stay out of the way should both begin to increase. That message was received loud and clear, though it might take some time for the impact to be completely understood and priced into various markets.

For centuries, gold has held a unique role: as a form of currency, a store of value and sometimes a speculative or alternative asset to stocks and bonds. No other asset has managed to retain such an allure over time.

And over the centuries, there have been other pretenders for gold's throne (salt, florins or ducats, anyone?) but none has survived. The latest potential competitor for gold may be bitcoin, the cryptocurrency created in 2009 as open-source software for a decentralized form of payment.

Gold investing is often seen as a barometer of fear and financial stress.

But while the bullion price has responded to 2018's stock market drops and geopolitical tensions so far, appetite for gold is in fact weakening among private investors overall.

COTs this week

Chinese reserves for May

Venezuela’s central bank in April paid $172 million to U.S. bank Citigroup (C.N) to recover part of the gold it had put up as guarantee in a swap operation, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

Perth Mint sales for May

Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) is limiting lending by its ScotiaMocatta metals unit as it embarks on a radical restructuring likely to halve the size of the business, sources familiar with the matter said.

Mocatta is the largest financier of the global precious metals supply chain, accounting for some 15-20 percent of lending to clients ranging from refiners and jewelers to carmakers and petrochemicals producers, industry sources say.

Those sources place the value of its leases, credit lines and consignment lending of precious metal at $8 billion.

With Donald Trump close to re-instituting economic sanctions on Iran, it's worth remembering that gold served as a tool for skirting the the last round of Iranian sanctions. If a blockade were to be re-imposed on Iran, might this role be resuscitated?