Over the past decade, major financial institutions, institutions we are told to trust, have paid billions in fines for systematically manipulating gold prices, proving that market manipulation is not just theoretical. It's not a conspiracy theory either, it's a documented reality with real consequences for you and I.

Here are three primary forms of gold market manipulation that have been proven in court: 

Spoofing
Benchmark manipulation
Systemic market manipulation schemes

Spoofing: The Digital Age's Favorite Manipulation Tool

What it is: Spoofing involves placing large orders with the intent to cancel them before execution, creating false signals of supply or demand to influence other traders' decisions and move prices artificially.

Spoofing has become the most common form of precious metals manipulation in electronic markets. The technique exploits the information content of order flow—when other traders see large buy or sell orders, they assume informed trading is occurring and adjust their own strategies accordingly.

Here's how it works: A manipulator places a large "spoof" order on one side of the market while simultaneously placing a smaller "resting" order on the opposite side. The large spoof order creates the false impression of significant buying or selling interest, causing other traders to react and move prices toward the manipulator's smaller order. Once the resting order is filled at the artificially influenced price, the spoof order is quickly canceled.

Example: The JPMorgan Case, America's Biggest Bank

The most spectacular example of spoofing came to light in the JPMorgan Chase case, which resulted in over $920 million in penalties—the largest precious metals manipulation fine in history. From 2008 to 2016, JPMorgan traders engaged in tens of thousands of spoofing sequences across gold, silver, platinum, and palladium markets.