July 10, 2017 -- Gold and silver prices got clobbered last week. The U.S. dollar showed some strength, but the bulk of the selling was based on a familiar story. Concentrated selling pushed prices through lower support, "hitting the stops" which triggered additional sales.

There is no apparent fundamental explanation for the carnage. Markets of all kinds are behaving strangely as the machine logic behind algorithmic trading further divorces price discovery from the basics like supply and demand.

Silver "flash crashed" on Wednesday evening – losing $0.50/oz in a matter of seconds, recovering, then rapidly collapsing again.

COMEX officials stepped in and invalidated trades below $15.54, but didn't bother trying to explain what drove the crash. An honest explanation would hurt confidence in their exchange.

In truth, confidence is shrinking due to recent revelations of blatant price rigging. Exchanges like the COMEX have abandoned fair play in order to collect big fees from high frequency trading firms – subjecting the rest of their participants to extreme, unpredictable and totally artificial prices moves.

Check out precious metals live spot prices here:
https://goo.gl/7HCPfM