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Further fueling speculation was a report by CBS that moderators of the online forum, responsible for sending shares of GameStop Corp. and other companies soaring, had detected a significant amount of recent “bot activity.” Citing a spokesperson for the group, CBS said moderators were doing their best to remove the computer-generated posts.
Replying to the original Reddit thread on silver, one user wrote: “BAN NEW ACCOUNT, attempt of pump and dump.” Another user called the original poster a “hedge fund shill.” Others pointed to a separate Reddit thread suggesting hedge funds stood to gain the most from silver’s surge.
“I think the Reddit legion did spark this unusual rally, but I am a little dubious about the more intricate conspiracy theories,” said Tai Wong, director of metals trading at BMO Capital Markets.
On if the posts were part of a hedge fund pump-and-dump scheme, Wong said “it’s a convenient narrative that shows how diabolical the speculators and hedge funds are, but it would be a risky move that would open an operator to charges of market manipulation — a highly undesirable outcome.”
Silver comments began dominating the Reddit board on Wednesday, and spot silver and the iShares Silver Trust both soared after. Silver futures broke past $30 an ounce on Monday as the retail investor frenzy swept into other markets, before sliding as much as 3.2% on Tuesday.
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