Margin Requirements Changing in Gold & Silver? (GLD, IAU, SGOL, SLV)

The move up and the sudden move down in gold today has been almost impossible to ignore.  Gold was up more than $15.00 above $1,681.00 today, but now gold is DOWN over $20.00 and back under $1,650.00 an ounce.  The explanation is a simple one and it is not forced central bank lending.  It is not even that our list of nations at risk of losing their “AAA” ratings is a new risk.  This is fear that trading margin requirements will be raised.

• SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) $160.02, -$1.47 (-0.91%)
• iShares Gold Trust (IAU) $10.04, -$0.15 (-0.9%)
• ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (SGOL) $163.08, -1.53 (-0.9%)

If you think tyhis is just gold, the devil’s metal via silver is down huge and the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) is off a massive 5.9% at $38.21.  AGAIN… $40+ has acted like the traders’ deathtrap in silver.

If you absolutely positively HAVE to have a formal reason, the fear is that the ECB will follow Switzerland with a rate cut to become more accommodative.  That will drive up the value of the greenback, which generally drives down the price of commodities.

Dennis Gartman on CNBC has even noted a rumor that trading margin for gold is about to be lifted.

JON C. OGG