Silver soared above $50, causing a liquidity crisis in the London market

The current price of silver has risen above $50 an ounce, causing chaos in the London silver market, with a massive short squeeze that has almost completely dried up liquidity. Traders point out that any short seller of spot silver has difficulty finding silver and is therefore forced to pay high borrowing costs to move positions. Others have booked space on transatlantic flights to transport large silver bars, an expensive mode of transportation often used to transport more valuable gold.
Anant Jatia, chief investment officer at Greenland Investment Management, a commodities hedge fund, said he had never seen anything like this in the market and that there was no liquidity available for silver. This unprecedented situation has caused the premium of the London silver market over the New York market to rise from the usual about 3 cents to more than 20 cents. Robert Gottlieb, managing director of JPMorgan Chase, pointed out that banks are now reluctant to quote each other, so the price difference is very large, which is also the reason for the lack of liquidity. (Golden Ten)