It appears an unusual single large trade took down the gold market earlier today. This dispels the theory of MANY traders being concerned about Ben's testimony and then subsequently liquidating their gold contracts en masse. You would think the gold cartel would at least camouflage their activity somewhat but I guess that would not be necessary when you control the regulators and media.

Regards - VHF

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“Large Seller in the Market” as COMEX Gold Hits $1,708

Gold Alert

February 29, 2012

COMEX gold futures continued to tumble in late morning trading, with the April contract plummeting as much as $80.00, or 4.5%, to $1,708.40 per ounce.

The decline coincided with a rally in the U.S. dollar after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony to Congress showed that the central bank is not close to embarking on further monetary easing.

Today’s drop in gold futures marked the yellow metal’s worst day since September 23, 2011 – when it tumbled 4.7%.

Commenting on the sell-off, CIBC World Markets wrote in a note to clients that “Gold – looks like a large seller of gold in the market. a 10k contract traded, down ticked the price by $40/oz. roughly 200k contracts trade per day, but unusual to see such a large single trade. not likely due to contract expiry either. That transaction represents 1mln oz of gold.”