Absolute disaster. Silver down -9.4%. Gold down 4.4%. Personally I will need to sell several $ million of HL at a loss in order not to get a margin call. I'll be lucky if I'm down to only $5 million in equity today. I started this venture December 2024 with $1.2 million equity so it isn't catastrophic even though it feels that way right now.
For those who started following me especially after my posted tweet, this is an excellent lesson where greed has blown apart a good idea. All great investors develop a plan and stick to it. My deviation was to go above my margin limit. Then when things went south I let the margin stay too high thinking the silver price would rebound. I should have sold HL shares at a loss and rebalanced. Instead I will be selling the shares at a much larger loss today.
I'm not going to be ending my journaling on X. I will continue to post my progress despite the pain. The heavy use of margin was not the problem, it was my misapplication of my own strategy.
Aussie column is up: It's a joke that Australia can’t even muster a single warship to send to Iran, reportedly because its navy is too enfeebled
dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/…
We’ve set up a new Fuel Supply Taskforce, led by Anthea Harris.
Working with states and territories, the taskforce will make sure fuel gets where it’s needed most.
It will bring together experts and industry to protect our fuel supply, and make sure we have the latest information on supply and demand.
Pauline Hanson calls for Australia to help Donald Trump “stamp out evil” by entering the conflict with Iran, just days after the President accused America's allies of refusing to provide assistance.
skynews.com.au/australia-news…
BREAKING: According to Axios, White House officials are bracing for a dramatic rupture between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, presumably on the basis that Bibi is now dead
🚨🚨🚨 ISRAEL JUST MADE THE SINGLE MOST DANGEROUS MILITARY DECISION OF THE ENTIRE WAR. AND NOBODY UNDERSTANDS WHAT THEY JUST TRIGGERED. 🚨🚨🚨
Israel and the U.S. struck South Pars — the LARGEST gas field on the planet. But here's what they either didn't know or didn't care about: South Pars is jointly managed by Iran AND Qatar. They didn't just attack Iran. They attacked the energy backbone of their OWN Gulf allies.
Let that sink in.
💀 The IRGC just declared ALL major energy facilities across the entire GCC as "direct and legitimate targets" — and warned strikes are coming in the "COMING HOURS."
💀 Listed targets: Qatar's LNG complex, Saudi Aramco facilities, UAE oil terminals — EVERYTHING.
💀 Saudi Aramco has already EVACUATED workers from the SAMREF refinery in Yanbu. They're not waiting. They KNOW what's coming.
💀 Iranian hackers have ALREADY hit Aramco's digital systems — posting images and issuing threats to PARALYZE their infrastructure.
💀 Multiple EXPLOSIONS just heard in Riyadh — confirmed by Reuters, AFP, and AP. Sirens sounding in the Saudi capital.
Do you understand the scale of what's happening?
⚠️ Qatar's LNG complex is the LARGEST on Earth. It supplies 30% of the world's liquefied natural gas. If Iran hits it — Europe's heating supply DISAPPEARS overnight. Not in months. OVERNIGHT.
⚠️ Saudi Aramco is the most valuable company on the PLANET — worth $1,800,000,000,000. Its refineries process 12 MILLION barrels per day. One successful strike takes 10% of the world's oil OFFLINE.
⚠️ In 2019, a SINGLE drone attack on Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq facility knocked out 5.7 million barrels per day and sent oil up 15% in ONE session. Iran now has 10x the motivation and NOTHING left to lose.
They're showing you "precision strikes on Iranian targets."
They're NOT showing you that those strikes just gave Iran the JUSTIFICATION to destroy every oil facility from Qatar to Saudi Arabia to the UAE.
Here's the logic — follow it carefully:
→ You bomb a gas field that's JOINTLY OWNED with Qatar
→ Qatar — your own Gulf ally — publicly condemns you
→ Iran uses the attack as justification to target ALL Gulf energy
→ IRGC formally declares Gulf facilities as "legitimate targets"
→ Aramco starts EVACUATING refineries
→ Explosions hit RIYADH
→ You didn't weaken Iran. You gave them the excuse to burn down the ENTIRE Gulf's economy.
If this was a "strategic victory," why is Aramco evacuating workers RIGHT NOW?
If Iran's military is "degraded," why are 6 Gulf nations scrambling to protect their oil fields from an attack they believe is IMMINENT?
Complete silence.
You don't evacuate the world's most valuable company unless you KNOW what's coming. The IRGC said "coming hours." Not days. Not weeks. HOURS. And every Gulf state just went from spectator to TARGET.
This is no longer a war between the U.S. and Iran. This is a war that's about to ERASE the Gulf's entire energy infrastructure — the infrastructure that powers HALF the planet.
Prepare accordingly. 🚨🚨🚨
They don't want you seeing this. Follow + RT to beat the algorithm. 🚨
It's been a long time coming but we finally have a true ABC intermediate correction in the mining stocks. That means a failed daily cycle. This is what triggers technical stops and ultimately washes out the last remaining sellers to set the stage for the next leg up.
This doesn't mean the bottom has to occur today but it does mean we are very close. The bullish precent is now under 20. This is building the fuel for a move above $6000 and probably above $7000 during the next rally that will follow once this completes.
With the daily cycle now on day 31 the bottom could come at anytime.
BTW this is a great spot to buy more physical gold and silver.
BREAKING: They just hit the factory.
Israeli strikes set fire to Phase 14 processing facilities at South Pars today. Iran’s oil ministry and Tasnim confirmed the blaze. Partial production suspension. An estimated 12 million cubic metres per day of gas output affected.
South Pars is the largest gas field on Earth. It produces 70 to 80 percent of Iran’s total gas output. That gas is not just fuel. It is the hydrogen feedstock for the Haber-Bosch process that synthesises ammonia, which becomes urea, which becomes the nitrogen that half the planet’s agriculture depends on. South Pars gas feeds Iranian fertiliser production at its molecular root.
The Hormuz permissioned chokepoint was already blocking the shipping route. Now the strikes are hitting the production source. The war is attacking the nitrogen supply chain at both ends simultaneously.
This is the escalation that collapses every remaining optimistic scenario.
The hopeful case for the global food system was always: the strait reopens, fertiliser flows resume, planting windows are partially salvaged. South Pars burning removes even that. If the strait reopened tomorrow morning and every provincial command stood down and every insurer reinstated cover by afternoon, the gas field that feeds the feedstock that feeds the ammonia that feeds the urea is on fire. The molecule cannot ship because the strait is blocked. The molecule cannot be produced because the factory is burning. Two chokepoints on the same supply chain. Both compromised on the same day of the same war.
South Pars shares its geological reservoir with Qatar’s North Dome field. Qatar’s output is steady. Qatar’s fertiliser production is unaffected. But Qatar’s exports also transit through Hormuz. Qatar’s urea also requires passage through the permissioned chokepoint that the Mosaic Doctrine’s 31 provincial commands control via sealed packets and VHF radio. The world’s two largest producers of the gas that becomes the nitrogen that grows the food are now compromised at different points on the same chain: Iran at the source, Qatar at the route.
Nineteen days. The Supreme Leader killed. The intelligence minister reportedly eliminated. The diplomatic negotiator and Basij commander dead. Over 2,000 targets. Missile production degraded 90 to 95 percent. Bushehr confirmed zero radiation by the IAEA. And now the gas field that anchors the nitrogen feedstock chain is burning.
NOLA urea is $683. It will not go down. It may go up. Because the market just learned that the war is not only blocking the molecule from reaching the ship. It is destroying the facility that creates the molecule in the first place.
The Mosaic provincial commands do not need South Pars to run the strait. They need radio handsets and sealed orders. But the world needed South Pars at full capacity for the day the strait eventually reopened. That day just became worth less. The post-war recovery that commodity desks were pricing as a sharp rebound now has a damaged gas field sitting between the ceasefire and the molecule.
The strikes are justified. The nuclear programme that threatened ten bombs is gone. The military degradation is historic. But the same war that eliminated the nuclear threat is now eliminating the agricultural feedstock that the post-war world will need to recover. The molecule is trapped behind a doctrine at sea and burning on land.
The soil waits for nitrogen. The nitrogen waits for gas. The gas field is on fire. And the strait is still closed.
Full analysis:
open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans…
World leaders, including Australia, are set to call on Iran to immediately stop blocking the Strait of Hormuz which is leading to petrol shortages and soaring prices around the globe.
An emergency session of the International Maritime Council was ordered on Wednesday where global leaders are expected to condemn Iran’s attacks on seafarers and merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil is shipped. #straitofhormuz#iran#maritime#shippinglane#middleeast
Strategy should remain:
Around 50% cash, some exposure to oil, keep gold and silver exposure between 25-35% until clear signs of de-escalation.
Bonus plays:
Long oil
Short Nasdaq/sp500
But caution and calmness remains key.
Safety first, this is a serious event. Just accept it, don’t be greedy, don’t gamble or chase reparation of losses.
Be defensive, watch from sidelines, act when you see a clear path.
@Ausbobsmit Meanwhile the French: The U.S. asks us for help and wants us to share the cost of their fiascos.
Joining Trump’s coalition today is like buying a ticket to dinner and dancing on the Titanic the evening after it hit the iceberg.
Albanese has officially ruined our longstanding relationship and alliance with the USA.
Don’t think the Yanks will come to our aid if China decides they want our land- or have you already given China everything they want, Albo? You make me sick.
Today the independent Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Board increased the cash rate by 25 basis points.
We already had an inflation challenge in our economy but the war in the Middle East is making this challenge worse.
At a time of immense global instability, this will put even more pressure on families and businesses.
Many Australians were already doing it tough and are now feeling the impact of conflict in the Middle East through higher petrol prices as well.
That’s why we’re rolling out responsible cost of living relief and taking action to give consumers a fair go at the bowser, through higher penalties, more surveillance and more supply.
@jeremyscahill@DropSiteNews The bald faced lies and mistruths from the White House on their illegal war (unapproved by Congress or American people) is gobsmacking. Keep up the first rate journalism
In response to this report today, the White House denounced @DropSiteNews as "abhorrent," and accused us of engaging in "America Last behavior."
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
dropsitenews.com/p/iran-war-tru…