Check gold and silver prices today: https://goo.gl/Zp1cNI?gold-and-silver-prices

March 6, 2017 -- Gold and silver prices fell sharply in last week's trading. Investors are betting heavily on an interest rate hike at this month's Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The growing certainty fueled a rally in the Federal Reserve Note versus other fiat currencies. 

Not all of the weakness in metals can be attributed to rate hike fears, however. Much of the losses came amidst concentrated selling of silver futures. On Thursday, nearly $2 billion dollars of paper silver were liquidated within a 40-minute period, lopping nearly $0.70 off of the price. 

There is good reason to question whether the selling is legitimate, or just another bear raid by concentrated short sellers looking to cash in. Why would any honest sellers choose to dump such massive quantities on the market all at once? That is no way to command the best price. There certainly wasn't any news event to trigger a stampede for the exits. 

In any event, the silver market recovered nicely on Friday, finishing back above $18/oz.