Evidenced by Tuesday’s drubbing of gold and silver into COMEX (paper market) options expiry for the metals, which is an all too common occurrence that goes unchecked by regulators, it’s apparent the banking cartel’s resolve regarding suppressing metal’s prices is particularly strong at present, with the tell sign here being generous numbers of put owners got paid – paid big time. If cartel members were the writers of these put contracts, such an outcome would be expensive, so it must be concluded the writers were likely hair-brained hedge fund managers, possibly goaded into these positions by cartel members. Then, it was easy for cartel members to sell gold down Tuesday as lower volumes associated with summer doldrums left few obstacles to overcome.