Silver Market Manipulation Triggers $600B Flash Crash Amid Physical Demand Surge
Silver markets convulsed on December 29, 2025 as prices plummeted 15.75% within 24 hours, erasing $600 billion in value. The collapse occurred despite tightening physical supply and robust retail demand across key Asian markets—a dissonance experts attribute to paper market manipulation.
Futures contracts on COMEX traded at $70-$73/oz while physical premiums reached $60 above spot in Japan. This widening gap exposes the leverage embedded in paper silver markets, where derivatives trading dwarfs physical settlement capacity. 'When the physical market screams shortage but futures crash, someone's pulling strings,' remarked a veteran metals trader.