The Leverage in COMEX Silver is about to Explode

Why is the eligible silver going up at such high pace and open interest going up at the same time?

As I told people before, eligible silver is not allocated. People think they own it, but it is not available for delivery. The ratio of registered to eligible is now: 29.7%. Down from 33% the last time I looked.

As this ratio between registered and eligible goes down, the leverage is going up and up. And when this leverage breaks (due to a short squeeze), the non-eligible supply of smaller bars and coins is going to disappear in front of you.

Chart 1: COMEX Silver

People know this, and as a result are buying physical silver in record quantities. The U.S. Mint just sold a never seen record of 3.37 million ounces in February 2013.