And it's happening in real time and either you understand it or you get run over by it. When you talk about China shutting off the export, they are responsible for up to 70% of the world's silver refinery refining, which means not just the stuff that they mine. It's the West will send them their Dory. They refine it and send it back to the West. They always did, not anymore. So yeah, I think that this is a very different time than 1980 when the Hud brothers, you know, used leverage to to exploit the market. This is a whole different ball of wax. Think of what China and India and Russia uh were in 1980 compared to what they are today. It is a whole different situation. The people buying gold represent the most well-informed traders in the world, not the general public. It is not in a bubble. The BIS just wants to throw you off the bull and don't listen to them. >> The precious metals market is no longer operating in theory. Clear signs of structural strain are now visible. Inflation remains far higher than official data suggests, and the credibility of paperbased markets is being tested as physical supply chains tighten and real delivery expectations increase. A global crisis of monetary trust combined with industrial shortages and rising geopolitical competition is colliding with a system that for decades relied on leverage, confidence, and settlement promises rather than physical ownership. Longtime precious metal strategist Andy Sheckchman, who focuses on the physical side of the market, explains why this cycle is fundamentally different. He points to declining deliverable inventories, growing rehypothecation risks in London, and a subtle but important shift as US institutions begin reducing exposure to large short positions. Silver is facing similar pressure. Export restrictions are increasing. Industrial demand continues to rise and refining bottlenecks are worsening. This is no longer just an investment story. Control over real tangible assets now sits at the center of a major monetary and geopolitical transition. If you want to stay informed on the forces reshaping the gold and silver markets according to David Jensen backing backed by 140 million ounce float. So those 140 million ounces have been sold over and over and over and over and over again to the same to different people. And if everyone stands for delivery, we have a very very big problem. But no one ever did. It's like Bernie Maidoff. Well, FTX with with the collapse of FTX that that's really >> when people request delivery just like in FTX just like in Bernie Maid off bad things happen in a rehypothecated leverage system. >> So the question that I would ask you is at what point does the COMX does the LBMA when are they going to mandate that people have to settle in cash and then what will that mean to the what will that mean to the actual exchange? >> Well, that can happen in the United States because it's an exchange. In London it's different. Um, in London, it's an over-the-counter exchange. There is no really official exchange to come in and regulate. Um, I don't know, but something very interesting is happening over in London that I think, you know, Michelle, I've talked with you about Tom Del Longo's theory about Trump going after the Europeans, going after the old money, the the aristocrats, thinking that they were involved in a lot of the election interference. Right, wrong, or indifferent? This is a theory. But I want to read to you something. I'd love your take, Michelle, because the net short exposure from the five US banks that have held the price down for so long um since July has gone from about 29,000 short contracts at 5,000 ounces a piece to 6,800. And that's a 22,000 contract decrease. And so what's interesting, it says in short, banks have been actively covering silver shorts since July, likely continuing through November and December. US banks appear largely, if not entirely, out of silver shorts, leaving foreign banks and other commercials with most of the remaining exposure potentially hedged by options or OTC markets. The OTC market is London. The the point I'm getting at is that it's interesting. JP Morgan has now flipped and gone long according to this report in the Financial Times. And this report is saying that the US banks are largely long, exposing the banks in London at the at the LBMA. Um, you could see massive fireworks coming out of this as far as I'm concerned. These are the kind of things the black swans that I don't know people are expecting, but on the CMX absolutely you would see a force majour long before you would see the Comx blow up in London. I'm not so sure about that. >> And if you saw it here on the COMX, what do you think the outcome of that would be? If they if they required and demanded cash settlement, you cannot stand for delivery anymore of your metal. What does that do to the market? Not only that, they might say you can only sell, you can't buy, >> right? >> Um it would the it would lose credibility overnight and that's when you see the transition to to Asia or wherever in their price setting where you know it's T plus 8 week delivery in London on a T+1 settlement system where it's supposed to the bars should be moving on the third day. They're saying it's 8 weeks because of a shortage of trucks. It's breaking and now they would turn up the heat. Every single one of them have said numbers that continually get revised. Oh, we're revising our $3,000 number to 3,800. Oh, we're revising it from 38 to 42. Oh, we're revising it. They continue to revise it. They continue to be wrong. They continue to be behind the >> Jeffrey Jeff, I think, was the the most outlandish of 66, but he did that >> he did that before we were in 50. So, give credit to Jeff at least for going out on a limb um being so far out when he was actually making the call as opposed to the sheep that are saying, you know, 56 when it was at 52. I mean it, you know, doesn't take that much to sell. >> Speaking of Jeff, it used to be Jeff Beige. >> Yes. Wall Street firm that used to be a primary distributor for all the mints. They understand the gold market. They're saying 6600 is the next the next stop before it cools down a little bit on gold. >> On gold. Yeah. >> I mean, look at everything that's happening at once. uh you have strategic resource competition where countries are now vying for what is available like like Samsung going to to China. You have industrial demand that is slamming into constrained physical supply. In other words, LBMA is supposed to be the one given the silver, but they're saying it's the 8week delivery delay. Imagine you own a multinational jewelry conglomerate that you need to manufacture your jewelry and they say, "Michelle, we're really sorry. your bars are supposed to be in three days. It's going to be eight weeks. So, you've got you got supply shocks from export restrictions. China now saying we're not going to export and we're going to hold it way back. And by the way, when the US made silver critical, they too can the president can um completely shut off exports. You've got stress inside of all the major exchanges, the LDMA, the ComX and the Shanghai. And at the same time, the largest player in the market, our good friends JP, are flipping from short to long. What could possibly go wrong? That's why this makes things different. This cycle is different. It's it's geopolitical. It's not just financial. And it's about who controls the materials needed to build this modern infrastructure like military, like digital, like AI, like all of the things that you need silver for. It's a realization. And it's a realization by the people that have been holding the price down like They caught on to us. It's they called our bluff and the countries that are doing it are now very sophisticated and wealthy. They weren't before and no one had the the balls to challenge the West in concert. They do and it's happening in real time and either you understand it or you get run over by it. When you talk about China shutting off the export, they are responsible for up to 70% of the world's silver refinery refining which means not just the stuff that they mine. It's the west will send them their dory. They refine it and send it back to the west. They always did. Not anymore. So yeah, I think that this is a very different time than 1980 when the Hunt brothers, you know, used leverage to to exploit the market. Um, this is a whole different ball of wax. Think of what China and India and Russia uh were in 1980 compared to what they are today. It is a whole different situation. >> In real time, the global monetary system is evolving. Inflation is still significantly higher than what official statistics acknowledge and confidence in fiat currencies is gradually diminishing. Even in cases when investors receive great returns on paper, the actual decline in purchasing power frequently outweighs those gains. As a result, more sophisticated money is shifting from paper assets and bonds to tangible settlement methods. Precious metals are still mostly disregarded by the public despite the fact. >> Make sure to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications for the latest analysis. Subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications for timely market updates.