Awgee, after reading your reply, I found this <a href="http://meltdown2011.wordpress.com/category/silver-gold/vaporize-comex-countdown/">website</a> while searching for the number of registered ounces at Comex.
From the site:
<blockquote>COMEX trades hundreds of times more gold & silver than they actually possess. If enough investors demand delivery of PHYSICAL gold & silver COMEX stockpiles will be depleted. If COMEX runs out, the ensuing rush to grab physical metal to settle contract obligations *could* be the spark that ignites the long-awaited precious metals wildfire.</blockquote>
Now consider this passage from <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/94111-gold-futures-dirty-secret-part-ii">this September article</a>:
<blockquote>So the supply in the cash market has really been a short covering of the futures market for lack of a better word. Just look at what these markets are telling us. The cash market is telling me I can?t even buy gold because there is next to none for sale. The futures market is telling me that I can buy gold at just over $800/oz. Considering the current and expected monetary inflation, $800/oz is dirt cheap.
What do I expect? Well, I expect the futures market to freeze up just like the cash market already is. It is the ONLY possibility at this point. There are many of you who have read this far and are probably screaming at the computer that a freeze in the gold futures market is impossible.
...
Personally, while the gold carry traders are rolling over their now diminished shorts, I will be rolling over my long positions. I have and will continually use both the options and futures markets to grow capital. I promise you this: when the futures market does freeze, I will have a sizeable long position on that which will have grown exponentially leading up to the fireworks, <strong>because when the market freezes, you will no longer be able to get long these markets</strong>. I wonder how regulators will handle that. Maybe they?ll take the speculators out and hang them.
</blockquote>
Individually, those disparate websites don't mean much. But if, and I really have to stress *if*, those who wish to take physical delivery are actually capable of driving up the price of gold (or drive up the price on the futures market without crashing the price on the physical market), I could see a panic ensue that feeds on itself. But I really don't have much faith that it would fool the big boys into mistaking a temporary panic for a fundamental shift in inflation-driven price rises. That temporary price spike will be good for some quick profits, but I don't see how those taking delivery prevent more physical metal from being registered with the Comex by Central Banks and producers, effectively undoing everything the long traders are trying to accomplish.
