Futures trader Ralph Preston calls their physically holding what they actually bought, "poor sportsmanship."
The call to take delivery is more of a challenge to the system and it borders on the anarchistic,” said Ralph Preston, a principal at Heritage West Financial Inc., a San Diego company that specializes in futures trading. “It’s like the Republicans trying to overturn President Obama over the birth certificate issue. It’s poor sportsmanship.”
Allowing people to trade contracts to buy and sell gold that does not actually exist creates the appearance that there is more gold than there actually is. This drives down the price of gold. Increasing the margin requirements results in brokerages calling margin accounts forcing people to either sell contracts or add money to their account. Many will sell contracts. This creates the appearance of a contraction and drives prices down. In this way the price of gold can be fraudulently manipulated by a few people. Although this type of manipulation is legal (of the form of law), it is not, in fact, lawful or proper. It allows the transfer of wealth to those who know in advance about the margin changes from those who do not know in advance about the margin changes. Such transfer of wealth constitutes theft by unjust enrichment.
However, the guilt is not all one-sided. It requires the willing participation of those who will trade commodities without taking possession of them. If everyone took control of all commodities they wished to trade (which would require full payment), there could be no margin trading and thus no ability for those who control the brokerages to steal money from those who don't by indirectly manipulating the market. Once again, God is not mocked. Destruction and loss accompany theft.
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