As you know, we moved from blogspot to this dedicated site for many reasons. The primary reason, however, was to capitalize on the collective knowledge and wisdom of Turdtown. I, The Turd, can only take you so far. I knew we needed a platform through which we could more efficiently share information. To see the effectiveness, all you have to do is look below.

Let me just state this clearly and for the record. If you are coming this site only to read what The Great and Powerful Turd has to say, you are doing yourself a tremendous disservice. The information copied and pasted below proves the point. These three comments were all posted to the "So, What's Next?" column from Monday night, when gold was still between $1890 and $1910. If you'd taken the time to read through the comments, you'd have found this. Perhaps you would have taken action. Note the time stamp:

Shanghai Gold Exchange Raises Gold Trading Margin To 12%

That's all for now. I hope you're hanging in there OK. If not, step away from your computer for a while and take a few deep breaths. Maybe go for a relaxing walk. None of this changes the fact the fiat money is headed down the drain and that the end of the Great Keynesian Experiment is upon us. Gold and silver will be higher again soon. You are doing the right thing by protecting yourself and your family.   TF

5:45 EDT UPDATE:

​In a stunning development that has caught everyone by surprise, the criminal C/C/C (CME/Comex/Cartel) just raised margins on gold by about 27%. In case you missed it, it's a development that was predicted here two days ago:

http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/2155/so-whats-next

My mistake was that I thought that gold was going to be allowed higher in order to create the disorder that the C/C/C needed to justify their actions. I thought that they would want to suck in a few more latecomers before they put the hammer down. (But, as Ted Buter correctly points out, the last $300 or so of the gold rally was almost entirely all Cartel short-covering, so, there were no latecoming specs to add to the fold. If I'd remembered this on Monday night, the crash on Tuesday would have been more predictable.) In the end, it didn't really matter as the PMs were crushed on Tuesday before any of you could try to attempt to cash in on the last remaining upticks.

We need to dissect this, though, because there is a lot to be learned...and remembered...for next time. The primary rationale for raising margins (containing price) is volatility. However, by Monday night, gold was just $90 above the level where the C/C/C had raised margins on 8/11. Yes, it had rallied from a hike-induced bottom of 1725 but it had done so in an orderly manner and not in a way that made another margin hike necessary. But the CME desperately wanted to raise margins in an attempt to rescue their evil Cartel buddies who were trapped short in a market that looked to be headed to $2000 very soon. Hmmmm. What to do?

You start by letting word out to some select friends that margin hikes are on the horizon. You then catch a break as the Shanghai exchange raises margins, too. At about noon yesterday, just when it looked like the metals were recovering, you confirm to some EE and hedgie friends that a margin hike is coming. By the end of the day, gold is already down almost 5% and you're building a case for "volatility-managing" hikes. Uh-oh. Gold recovers overnight. It actually makes it back up to 1860 or so. Therefore, before the Comex open today, you sprinkle word around that margins are definitely being raised after the close. The selling begins at 8:30 and is relentless all the way through the session. Gold falls another 6% and...prestowhammo...you've got yourself all the volatility and justification needed to hike margins.

Next up, The Bernank will "disappoint" over the weekend which may further add to the selling pressure in the PMs. I'm not sure how much worse it can get as gold is already down almost 10% since Monday and 10% or so is the typical decline post a margin hike. As stated in the comments of this thread, I'm looking for a bottom in gold somewhere between 1700 and 1725. At this rate, though, I wouldn't be surprised if gold traded all the way down to fill the gap on the chart from two weeks ago when the U.S. downgrade announcement was made. A move that low would take gold all the way back to 1650 or so. The globex session finished at 1754 and we'll likely see some carryover selling in Asia and in Europe. Tomorrow will be interesting.

Lastly, don't forget that gold margin hikes are an indirect positive for silver. The C/C/C is unwittingly "leveling the leverage playing field" in the PMs. Much of the disparity in the relative performance of gold vs silver these past few weeks has been due to silver's much higher margin requirements. Higher gold margins flatten out this difference and make silver look more attractive than it did earlier this week. Combine this with the extraordinarily strong OI and CoT numbers for silver and you can clearly see where $50 silver is still a target before the end of the year.

Have a fun evening. TF