If you believe silver is trading at ~$100/oz, youâre not observing the full market.
Youâre looking at a paper price, not where real supply and demand meet.
Step outside the screen, and a very different picture emerges:
đșđž COMEX (paper): ~$100
đŻđ” Japan (physical): ~$145
đšđł China (physical): ~$140
đŠđȘ UAE (physical): ~$165
This isnât a minor discrepancy.
Itâs a structural disconnect â and it shouldnât exist in a healthy market.
Under normal conditions, arbitrage would close spreads like this quickly.
The fact that it hasnât tells us something important: the paper market is under constraint.
Why?
Because large financial institutions are heavily short silver through derivatives.
If prices converge toward where physical metal actually clears â say $130â$150 â those losses stop being theoretical. They become balance-sheet events.
At that stage, itâs no longer about positioning or speculation.
Itâs about risk containment and survival.
What weâre seeing now resembles a quiet divergence:
Physical silver is steadily moving out of vaults
Paper contracts continue to expand
Real value is being absorbed
Claims on that value are multiplying
That dynamic can persist â until inventories tighten enough to stress delivery.
When that happens, paper pricing loses authority.
This isnât a call for immediate fireworks.
Itâs an observation of building pressure.
Silver isnât stable.
Itâs compressed.
And when compression releases, it rarely does so in an orderly way.
Most participants wonât notice â because theyâre focused on the quoted price, not the clearing price.

