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This is the last thing Ted Butler wrote for us. He was trying to summarize what he saw happening in silver. His illness was making it difficult to write, but he did a good job of conveying his final thoughts.

Price volatility in silver has been heavy recently, but two conditions point to much greater price volatility ahead. Currently, bearish futures-market positions on the COMEX feature an unprecedented short position by a single managed-money trader of some 13,000 contracts (65 million ounces). This is combined with a heavy commercial short position. The short position by a big managed-money trader is particularly concerning since it is larger than what the largest silver mines produce in a year and is clearly not a hedged position, but purely speculative, appearing to violate speculative position limits. While bearish on its face, should this big short get caught in a squeeze, all heck could develop on the upside.