Have you ever imagined that only two people owned one-third of the silver in the world? This is not a novel, but a fact that happened in 1980! Here is the complete story of "Silver Thursday":
1️⃣ The crazy bet: Is silver more valuable than gold? 💰
After the death of oil tycoon "H.L. Hunt," his sons (Herbert and Nelson) decided to invest their fortune in silver. Why? Because they believed that the dollar would collapse and that silver was the only safe haven. But they didn't just settle for regular buying; they planned the largest monopoly in history!
2️⃣ "The choke plan": How did they manipulate the market? 🕸️
The brothers employed very aggressive strategies:
• Physical delivery: They did not buy paper contracts but insisted on taking "real bullion" and storing it, which reduced global supply.
• Leverage: They borrowed astronomical amounts against their family name to buy more and more.
• The result: They controlled one-third of the private sector's silver in the world, and their financial position reached $4.5 billion (by 1970s standards)!
3️⃣ When the "big players" decided to change the rules of the game ⚖️
The U.S. government and regulators did not stand by watching the threat to economic stability:
• Changing the rules: Suddenly, any new margin purchases were banned.
• Credit crunch: The Federal Reserve encouraged banks to stop lending to the Hunt brothers.
• The trap: The brothers ended up owning tons of silver, but they had no "liquidity" to pay off daily debts!
4️⃣ The great crash: "Silver Thursday" ⚡
On March 27, 1980, the inevitable happened:
• The brothers failed to meet the "Margin Call."
• The price of silver crashed from $50.42 to less than $11 in moments!
• The loss: $1.7 billion evaporated in hours, making them the largest debtors in history at that time.
💡 Lessons for today's traders:
1. Don't fight the system: You cannot win a battle against the rule-makers (governments and exchanges).
2. The danger of indebtedness: Overtrading with money you don't own is a "knife" you give to the market to slaughter you at the first correction.
💬 A question for you: Do you think what the Hunt brothers did was clever luck that betrayed them, or was it greed that deserved this ending? Share your thoughts in the comments!
