What the Hunts did was quite simple—and quite daring. They cornered the silver market by accumulating gigantic positions in the futures market to buy silver and then demanding delivery when the contracts came due. Simultaneously, they accumulated enormous stocks of silver in the spot market (the market in which physical quantities of the metal were bought for immediate delivery) and held this silver off the market, making it difficult for those who had sold silver futures to fulfill their obligations. Thus, they increased demand in the futures market while restricting supply in the spot
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