Since the futures opened on Sunday, silver has fallen $13. For a standard 5,000 ounce contract this is $65,000, more than three times the COMEX margin. Today alone silver is off $15,000 per contract. It is just plain silly to claim a conspiracy against silver, and even sillier to claim that margins were hiked for nefarious reasons. Margin had to be hiked to keep up with the price of silver and its volatility, to protect the exchanges and winning traders (and to protect losers from themselves).

Like I said a two weeks ago at $45 when I discussed buying near-term puts on silver in anticipation of the bubble popping, I think the metal’s run is over. I suspect that it may establish a new normal in the $10-20 range for the coming decade or so, until the next secular inflation cycle is upon us.