Metals & Energy Research
Every read starts from a number in our own data — COMEX, the LME, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — and works out what it means.
40 Years of American Silver Eagle Demand
Every American Silver Eagle the U.S. Mint has sold since 1986, by the month: the panics, the record years, and the January spike nobody talks about.
Read the researchCOMEX Gold Registered Stocks Hold Near 14.78M oz
Deliverable gold barely moved this week while only 55% of the COMEX vault sits free to deliver.
Read the researchThe Global Liquidity Question and What COMEX Physical Metal Shows Right Now
Readers want a single fiat-liquidity number; the Desk can only report what the verified physical data says, and this week that data sits in COMEX vaults and EIA oil tanks.
Read the researchSimon won the famous bet. He loses 67 of our 110 reruns.
The 1980 five-metal wager, recomputed for every rolling ten-year window since 1900 from USGS constant-dollar prices. Ehrlich wins 61% of the century; the actual bet landed inside Simon's best streak. Full 110-window table included.
Read the researchSilver finally beat 1980. Then it crashed like 1980, twice.
The 1980 record stood 45 years, 8 months and 21 days. Since it fell on October 9, 2025, silver hit $121.6, crashed 47% in eight days, and crashed again in June. In 1980 dollars, the real record near $213 was never touched.
Read the researchHow to hide and bury gold, silver, and copper without losing it
Ten thousand dollars is a casino die of gold, a coffee mug of silver, or 1,594 pounds of copper. The density math, burial container engineering, the legal line on public land, phone OPSEC, and camera placement of deep storage.
Read the researchWhat COMEX and Cushing Say While Everyone Watches LME Zinc
The Desk went looking for on-warrant LME zinc and found the deliverable-metal story playing out clearer in COMEX gold, silver, and Cushing crude as of early July 2026.
Read the researchCushing Crude Sits at 19.6 Million Barrels, Near the Low End of 22 Years
The physical delivery point for US benchmark crude is running thin as of Jul 3, 2026, while the SPR sits near a 44-year low.
Read the researchSPR Sale and Purchase Solicitations: how the DOE buys and sells reserve crude
The notices the U.S. Department of Energy uses to sell or buy Strategic Petroleum Reserve crude, a reserve now at its lowest level since 1983. How the mechanism actually works.
Read the researchWhat should silver actually cost? The gold-to-silver ratio from first principles
A live first-principles valuation: divide the current gold price by silver's structural ratios — mine supply, crustal abundance — to build a physical-fair range, then read the gap to today's price as gold's monetary premium. Recalculated from spot.
Read the researchHow the 2026 oil release actually worked: one emergency, five playbooks
Thirty-four countries released oil into the same emergency. Almost none did it the same way. The U.S. lent its oil and gets more back; everyone else sold, loosened a mandate, or pumped more.
Read the researchJapan just posted the largest crude oil drawdown in its history
Japan moves about 90% of its crude through the Strait of Hormuz. The strait spent 2026 effectively closed, and the reserve is doing the bridging.
Read the researchThe SPR is draining, and it did not stop at the ceasefire
The war was the reason everyone pointed to. The drawdown is the part that has not stopped.
Read the researchCopper's refining benchmark fell to zero for 2026, a first
Most of the world's silver comes out of the same mines as copper, lead, zinc, and gold. The 2026 copper treatment charge settled at zero, a first on record.
Read the researchWhy the eligible pile drained fastest in COMEX gold's 2026 slide
The gold in COMEX-approved warehouses shrank by 8.37 million ounces in five months. The bars not yet committed to contracts left fastest.
Read the researchThe Strait of Hormuz is reopening. The oil won't flow back overnight.
A peace deal ends the 107-day blockade. Clearing the mines, satisfying insurers, and refilling the supply gap will take months, from a 40-year-low reserve.
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