Michelle Makori interviews Andy Schectman about repeated CME trading halts in gold/silver, tight physical supply, Mexico cartel risk to silver production, and the possibility that U.S. strategic stockpiling or price support is already emerging. The discussion is strongly bullish on precious metals and highly skeptical of Western price discovery.
Watch on YouTube ›Get the market thesis, key claims, assets, contradictions, and follow-up questions from any financial video — then unlock a version personalized to your portfolio, watchlist, and favorite speakers.
This episode of The Real Story centers on a rapid-fire discussion of gold and silver market disruptions with Andy Schectman of Miles Franklin Precious Metals. The main thread is that recent CME trading halts in metals futures, combined with repeated delivery stress, growing physical withdrawals, and strategic-mineral rhetoric from the U.S. government, are evidence that the paper metals system is under strain. The conversation begins with the CME Globex halt in metals and natural gas futures. Michelle frames it as a technical outage, but Andy treats it as suspicious because it occurred while silver was pushing through $90 and during a delivery-expiration window. He argues the exchange is increasingly eroding confidence in COMEX price discovery, and that large traders would be foolish to leave metal inside the system. …
Tactically, silver looks crowded and volatile: repeated exchange interruptions and expiration stress raise the odds of another sharp move if physical tightness persists. Near-term risk is a forced unwind or another halt around delivery windows, with $90 treated as a visible resistance area and $70 as nearer support.
Over the next few months, the transcript’s base case is continued pressure on paper pricing as physical withdrawals, strategic buying, and security risks keep the market tight. Confirmation would come from sustained off-exchange withdrawals, persistent Asian premiums, and more official critical-mineral or stockpile messaging; invalidation would be easing delivery stress and a return to smooth arbitrage.
The structural thesis is that gold and silver are gradually moving into the category of reserve and strategic assets rather than ordinary tradable commodities. If that regime shift continues, exchange credibility, Treasury trust, and Western paper pricing could matter less than physical possession and sovereign accumulation.
The CME metals halt has helped erode confidence in COMEX price discovery and may have protected an offside participant near silver delivery expiration.
Andy says halts during rising prices and delivery windows are suspicious and could bail out a short or under-delivered position.
Physical silver withdrawals from COMEX in February far exceed what delivery data alone can explain, indicating tight supply and low trust in the system.
Andy cites about 38.8 million ounces withdrawn versus about 23.2 million ounces delivered, calling it a sign of distrust and scarcity.
The Western silver price is artificially low relative to Shanghai, where silver trades at a meaningful premium even after VAT considerations.
Andy argues the premium persists because Asia values physical metal more and arbitrage has not closed the spread.
What is your read on the CME Globex trading halt for metals and natural gas, especially given that silver was approaching $90 per ounce when it happened?
Andy Shackman says people are waking up to the split between real physical gold and paper gold/silver. He argues these games at the 12th hour erode confidence in the COMEX system, and this is just the beginning of more shenanigans on the upside — stopping price rises with technical glitches but letting price falls happen. He says big traders would be foolish to leave their metal within this ecosystem.
When you say a player 'ran out of runway,' do you mean they did not have the physical silver to deliver?
Andy confirms this interpretation — a bank or big fund was massively offside and ran out of runway, so pausing was likely the lesser of two evils to prevent the exchange from blowing up.
At what point does the CFTC step in here, if at all, given these suspicious halts?
Andy says the CFTC has been lame all along, citing the JP Morgan $920 million settlement for spoofing and Bart Chilton's admissions that these activities happened. He implies the regulator has failed to act meaningfully.
Unlock the full claims, asset map, scores, related transcripts, follow-up questions, and AI chat — shaped around your portfolio, watchlist, favorite speakers, and risks.
