Silver Rises Over 120% YTD 
The COMEX May gold contract is showing unprecedented activity, with 6,712 new contracts written since first notice day—far above the historical mean of 1,525 and previous record of 4,150. Cumulative deliveries have reached nearly 16,000 contracts, surpassing the record set by the March contract. However, this activity is primarily driven by bank house accounts and JP Morgan customer accounts, with Bank of Montreal being the largest buyer at 658,000 ounces. For silver, the May contract is also setting records with JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs customer accounts driving purchases, while banks overall have sold a net 15.8 million ounces to non-banks—the third-highest net sale by banks for a specific contract in history.
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Oil Crashed 11%. Gold Went Up. That Tells You Everything.
Oil crashed 11% on Friday when Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz. Gold went up. That rare divergence — oil down, gold up, same catalyst — signals that gold’s rally is driven by monetary forces, not geopolitical ones. The war premium left oil. The monetary premium stayed in gold. Here is what that means for precious metals investors watching the Fed’s next move.
April 17, 2026
