Here is a chart of registered silver ounces available for delivery in the Comex warehouse. Nine out of ten Americans may notice a trend.
Comex has two categories of silver in its warehouse.
The
eligible category merely means that the silver is in a condition to conform to the standards of delivery. Size and quality of the bar in other words.
Registered means that the silver is available for delivery to those who demand bullion.
Eligible silver can become registered and deliverable if the owner of the silver declares it saleable at some price. And of course if it is there, and otherwise unemcumbered by senior obligations or conspicuous absence. There are a little over 60 million ounces of eligible silver being stored by customers at the Comex, in addition to the registered dealer inventory.
The registered inventory of silver at the Comex, 42 million ounces, is worth about 1.34 billion dollars at today's prices.
The entire silver inventory at the Comex warehouse, roughly one hundred million ounces of silver, is worth about 3.2 billion dollars at today's prices.
There are some rules passed a few years ago, delivery limits, that prevent a large entity from taking too much physical bullion in a single month, forcing a cash settlement. That is why the inventory is undergoing a slow but steady drain.
In other words, THEY can sell as much as they wish, but YOU can only take as much as they allow you to take at the current prices. That might sound like a con by any other name.
When and if this market leverage breaks, the silver on the periphery, the
non-eligible supply, is going to evaporate given the large amount of leverage in the unallocated silver bullion that people believe that they own.