jIM COOK INTERVIEWS ED STEER
Ed Steer is one of the foremost silver and gold analysts in the country. He publishes a newsletter that closely follows the price movements of precious metals in the futures market. He was a student of silver analyst Ted Butler for fifteen years – and is now his disciple and advocate.
Cook: Would you agree that you and I both learned a lot from Ted Butler?
Steer: We learned everything about the silver and gold price management scheme in the COMEX futures market through Ted. There are no facts out in the public domain about these two precious metals that didn’t go through him first, whether people are prepared to acknowledge that fact or not.
Cook: Do you think Ted Butler blew the whistle on the big shorts?
Steer: Yes. The data was always on display in the weekly Commitment of Traders Report – and in the monthly Bank Participation Report. But he was the one that put it prominently on public display. Now most precious metal analysts refer to it – and that fact has gone totally mainstream. It’s been an incredible development that both you and I have watched unfold over the last 25+ years.
Cook: What’s happened to the short position in silver since Ted passed away?
Steer: Not much. The short position of the Big 4 and 8 largest traders is still grotesque and obscene, and totally manipulative to the price, as is the short position in SLV, BlackRock’s big silver ETF.
Cook: So, no change?
Steer: What has changed in the last month, is that during August, the five big U.S. banks that have been short silver big time in the COMEX futures market, reduced their short position drastically during that month – by almost 50%. It is now the lowest it’s been since June 2019 – a fact that I must admit has wildly bullish implications for its future price.
Cook: Why is the reduction in the short position so bullish?
Steer: Because it’s mainly been the big five U.S. banks that have been at ground zero of the price management scheme in silver since Day 1. The fact that they’re exiting the scene after spending several generations on the short side is a strong indication that they want to cut their losses to a minimum when they finally allow the silver price to rise substantially.
Cook: Why is the price jumping now?
Steer: There are several factors in play – loss of confidence in the dollar as a reserve currency since the U.S. has weaponized it, worldwide currency debasement in general, short-covering, and those getting on the long side of the market in preparation for the upcoming ‘violent’ repricing of silver because of the ongoing and deepening 5-year structural deficit. Because of all these factors, silver is up 47% so far this year, and its equities are up 104% year-to-date.
Cook: What do you make of this? – New York dealers have been calling us to see if we have any 1,000-ounce bars available. That’s never happened before.
Steer: Very unusual – and points to an abrupt shortage of one-thousand-ounce good delivery bars. Don’t forget that we’re well into the fifth year of a structural deficit in silver – and at some point, this demand will run into the brick wall of a finite supply. This could be the first signs of it. The available float at the LBMA in London has been shrinking for a long time – and for several months now, there has been about 10 million ounces of silver a week disappearing into various depositories, mutual funds and ETFs. That’s equivalent to four days of world silver production per week…an unsustainable rate.
Cook: Anything else you’d like to mention?
Steer: Phil Baker, the former chairman of The Silver Institute and former CEO of Hecla Mining, in an interview he gave about ten days ago said that “insatiable physical demand is creating an historic supply deficit that could lead to a violent repricing of the metal.” We have now been given fair warning of that upcoming event. The New York dealers sniffing around for any good delivery bars in the retail sector that they can scrounge, is yet another straw in the wind. I’m 100% invested in the precious metals – mostly in silver – just waiting for that day.
Here’s the link to that Baker interview if you wish to use it: https://www.kitco.com/news/video/2025-09-05/silver-price-shock-incoming-as-insatiable-physical-demand-drains-supply-insider
Cook: Thank you for a very informative interview. I hope we can do this again soon.