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£3,224.29 OZ
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£48.64 OZ
Platinum -0.49%
£1,359.90 OZ
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For years, the silver market has been dogged by allegations of price manipulation. Due to silver’s relatively small market size and its often-volatile price swings, it has long been considered a prime candidate for rigging. While whispers of foul play have persisted for decades, the veil began to lift when detailed trader communications, lawsuits, and internal documents from major global banks were exposed in court.
At the heart of this manipulation scandal lies the London Silver Fix, a benchmark process used to set the global price of silver each day. Established in 1897, it was traditionally determined through a private phone call between representatives from major bullion banks.
But this opaque process—shrouded in secrecy and ripe for abuse—came under heavy scrutiny when evidence emerged of collusion among the very banks entrusted with ensuring fair pricing.
The scandal first surfaced publicly in 2014, when investigations and lawsuits exposed widespread misconduct in the silver market. It escalated in 2016 when Deutsche Bank settled a lawsuit over silver price rigging. As part of the $38 million settlement, the bank handed over more than 350,000 documents and 75 audio recordings—offering a rare, unfiltered glimpse into behind-the-scenes conversations between traders at Deutsche Bank, UBS, and others. The contents were damning.
Among the most incriminating pieces of evidence were chat logs revealing direct communication between UBS and Deutsche Bank traders. According to court filings, these traders coordinated trades, shared customer order flow, and engaged in spoofing—a deceptive tactic where traders place orders they intend to cancel to manipulate prices. The goal was simple: shift the market in their favor to extract profits, regardless of the damage to other market participants.
One of the more well-documented practices was the so-called “11 o’clock rule,” in which UBS and Deutsche Bank traders agreed to short silver at exactly 11 a.m. The plan involved timing their trades with a synchronized countdown. As one UBS trader wrote, “If 53 breaks imam go guns blazing.”
Their conversations were laced with bravado and candid admissions of intent. In one exchange, a UBS trader typed, “Gonna bend this silver lower,” to which a Deutsche Bank counterpart replied, “Oh dear. my boss just said he bought some.” The UBS trader then added, “I have to be sneaky then.“
The traders’ behavior went beyond market timing. They actively recruited others to their circle. “We need to grow our mafia a lil,” one UBS trader wrote in 2011, referring to their desire to bring in a third player. A Deutsche Bank trader responded, “OK calling barx,” referencing Barclays.
In another revealing chat, a Barclays trader wrote, “You are short right…haha…we are one team one dream,” to which a Deutsche Bank trader replied, “Of course short. Short 1 lac.” This use of coordinated action across institutions was not an isolated event—it was a pattern.
The group became so accustomed to triggering customer stop-loss orders that they dubbed themselves the “Stop Busters.” In one chilling exchange, a Deutsche Bank trader joked, “HAHA…who ya gonna call!…STOP BUSTERS…deh deh deh deh dehdehdeh.”
Other chats showed traders conspiring just minutes before the silver fix to manipulate prices. In 2007, a Deutsche Bank trader told a Fortis Bank contact, “Seems some buying pre sil fix in the systems,” to which Fortis replied, “We’ll sell 70’s together.” Another line reads: “At this rate mate we can sell 11.80’s both mkts are as thin as I’ve ever seen them in my 5 years.”
The tactics were not only crude—they were effective. As one UBS trader boasted, “If you want to accelerate it…go short 20k silver… Avalanche can be triggered by a pebble if u get the timing right.”
Bullion Banks are part of the London Bullion Market Association and play a crucial role in market making, facilitating large bullion transactions and playing a role in the price-setting such as the daily London gold and silver fix
Silver (and gold) are widely seen as hard money — they’ve been trusted stores of value for thousands of years. When silver rises sharply, it often signals a loss of confidence in fiat currencies, especially the U.S. dollar. A rising silver price can send a message:
“People are fleeing paper money.”
Precious metals like silver are classic barometers of inflation, and central banks and governments have a vested interest in projecting economic stability—especially when it comes to inflation expectations. A sudden surge in the price of silver can undermine the narrative that inflation is “under control,” potentially prompting investors to flee bonds in favor of hard assets and triggering broader market instability. This matters because inflation expectations directly influence bond yields, interest rates, and overall confidence in monetary policy.
Bullion banks aren’t just protecting the system—they’re profiting. They short silver futures, push prices down with spoofing or large sell orders, then cover at a profit. Once the market drops, they often go long and profit on the rebound. With insider market flow, knowledge of stop-loss zones, cheap capital, and coordination across desks or banks, this strategy becomes highly effective.
Silver’s price often dips just before options expire—and it’s no coincidence. Bullion banks use tactics like paper selling and price pinning to profit while pushing options out of the money. This recurring pattern hurts retail traders and distorts true price discovery. Here’s how it works.
As options expiration approaches, large players often work to “pin” silver’s price near the level where the most options expire worthless—known as the max pain point. This benefits market makers by allowing them to keep the premiums collected from both call and put buyers. For instance, if there’s a concentration of call options at $26, keeping silver just below that level—say, at $25.90—ensures those options expire worthless, saving millions in payouts.
To keep silver below critical strike prices, bullion banks may dump large volumes of paper silver—futures contracts or derivatives—into the market. These aren’t backed by physical metal, but they’re enough to push the price down, trigger stop-losses, and spark bearish momentum. This manufactured sell pressure helps prevent call options from ending in the money and reinforces price suppression right when it matters most.
Manipulating silver is much easier when trading volume is thin, such as during overnight sessions, holiday periods, or the final hours before expiry. In these low-liquidity windows, it takes relatively little effort or capital to move the price significantly. That makes them ideal times to force the market down and keep it pinned below key levels until options settle.
This cycle repeats like clockwork: silver begins to rally, approaches key strike levels, then suddenly faces a sharp drop just before options expire. Once the contracts settle and the pressure eases, silver often rebounds—sometimes within days. The pattern has become so routine that it’s hard to ignore the correlation between these price drops and COMEX or SLV options expiry dates.
When silver nears a breakout level that could spark a wave of buying, bullion banks often intervene aggressively to knock the price back down. This deliberate move aims to shake investor confidence, deter new buyers, and stall any upward momentum, keeping silver’s price contained and stagnant.
Investing in Silver
Silver coins are timeless, tangible assets with lasting value, offering beauty, security, and privacy in a world of digital uncertainty.
Collectible, historic, and inflation-resistant, they provide real wealth you can hold—trusted for generations and ideal for both gifting and investment.
