https://www.kitco.com/
amen
$ $ $
… let's consider the COMEX calendar. The front contract/delivery months for COMEX gold are February, April, June, August, October (sort of), and December. ForCOMEX silver,these months are March, May, July, September, and December. Since it is now late April, that meansour focus is the May22 COMEX silver.The expiration schedule is below:
April 26: COMEX options expire for the May22 silver. There are also a significant number of COMEX gold options that expire that day, too.
April 29: The May22 silver contract goes "off the board" and into "delivery" at the COMEX close…
So, what’s going on here? While I’m certain that there is at least a small amount of legitimate hedging and arbitrage, the majority of this TAS/spread volume is placed withnefarious and manipulative intent.One other note of interest. Since these are spreads and thus “fully hedged” in the eyes of the CFTC, these positions can be as large as possible without drawing any regulatory scrutiny.
And so, what happens next as the calendar inevitably moves toward option expiration and contract delivery? These spread trades are often “legged out” for maximum price control and impact. What does that mean?
To “leg out” means that you take just one side of the spread off at a time. In this case, a trader with that aforementioned “nefarious intent” will dump/liquidate his May longs while maintaining his July short. This has the impact ofimmediately driving the price lower and affords the trader the luxury of covering the short side at a lower price.
full article at https://www.sprottmoney.com/blog/Watching-the-Calendar-Craig-Hemke-April-18-2022