The Man Who Cornered the Silver Market and Lost
In 1980, two Texas oil heirs tried to buy nearly all the world's silver, driving prices up eightfold before a single rule change destroyed them. This is the story of how the Hunt brothers nearly broke a commodities market and what happens when private fortunes collide with public exchanges.
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The Hunt brothers accumulated one hundred ninety-five million ounces of silver to hedge against paper currency inflation.
Silver prices skyrocketed from under two dollars to nearly fifty dollars per ounce within one decade.
Market scarcity became so extreme that families began melting down heirlooms and jewelry for their silver content.
Exchanges implemented Silver Rule Seven to restrict margin purchases and force liquidation-only trading.
Silver Thursday saw prices plummet fifty percent in one day after regulators changed market rules mid-session.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a ten million dollar fine and permanent trading bans for manipulation.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02The Texas Oil Heirs and the Silver Hoard2 min
- 03The Exchange Strikes Back2 min
- 04Silver Thursday and the Fallout2 min
- 05The Long Tail of Regulation2 min
- 06Outro1 min
- The Hunt Brothers: How Two Billionaires Broke the Silver Market
- Silver Thursday - Wikipedia
- Silver Thursday | The Hunt Brothers Scheme
- The 1980 Hunt Brothers Silver Corner: Anatomy of a ...
- The Hunt Brothers Silver Corner: The 1980 Attempt to Buy Silver
- Silver Thursday and the Hunt Brothers Corner
- Chicago Board Limits Silver Futures Trading; Sharp Response in Market Averting Squeeze on Shorts
- Testimony of Dan Berkovitz, General Counsel
- Article 57 Position limits in commodity derivatives and position ...
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