That HSBC "customer" account issues delivery notices on 640 koz of silver driving HSBC silver sales to 53% of the May contract total.

The marginal seller is half of the market?

+++++++++++++++ Gold

BofA stopped 154 of 189 contracts on Friday bringing their June total to 206 contracts (or 0.64 tonne). That’s much less than BofA’s typical transaction volume … often they are buying 3,000 or more contracts. However … it IS a net buy. BofA was a net seller in Feb and March of this year so this buy shows they continue to accumulate.

BofA likely bought (most or) all of those 154 contracts on Friday and not before first notice. I say that because the open interest at the start of trading on Friday was only 61. Trading volume was 194 and 158 new contracts were written. So BofA bought at least 93 (154 - 61) of those contracts on Friday. The conclusion is … BofA, the 600 lb gorilla, was buying at Friday’s quote.

Cumulative issues and stops by player:

The May contract has not been impressive so far. Contracts delivered is running 60% below the 4 year mean as you can see below. Hang tight though. The typical number of new contracts written during the delivery period is about 4,000, so there is likely more to come.

++++++++++++++++ Silver

The HSBC story continues. On Friday at MTB’s vault 640 koz moved into registered from eligible. Delivery notices were issued for 130 contracts by that HSBC “customer” account. Those pair exactly at an average of 984 oz per bar, which is highly plausible. As a reminder that HSBC “customer” has been using both MTB and Asahi’s vault.

Cumulative issues and stops:

During May HSBC’s house account has issued 998 contracts and that HSBC’s “customer” account is now up to 1,468. The two together are 2,466 contracts or 53% of the May contract total.

Since December of last year through February, HSBC’s customer account sales have been about 45% of total silver sold at comex. There was a reduction in March and April, but May looks set to be the highest ever. The weighted average From Dec 23 through Friday is 40%.

++++++++++++++ Silver Vaults

I earlier mentioned the 640 koz moved into registered at MTB’s vault:

++++++++++++++ Gold Vaults

117 koz or 3.6 tonne transferred from registered to eligible from 6 vaults mostly at Brinks (48.4 koz) and JP Morgan (27.7 koz). 6.4 koz departed the vaults evenly split at HSBC and Delaware:

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