Fanya Metals Fallout: Song Hongbing Attacked By Mob

Song Hongbing is a financial writer whose series of "Currency War" books were popular in the run-up to the 2008 crisis. I haven't read all his books, but his first had a lot on the Rothschilds, and was pro-gold, anti-dollar. It wasn't too different from arguments you might have heard in the West about the need to buy gold and the death of the dollar. A post I did from 2011: Chinese silver futures market is three times the size of CME; does this sound like a bubble?

SCMP: Chinese investors attack bestselling financial author they blame for ‘40 billion yuan losses’

A high-profile Chinese author of a controversial financial bestseller claims his clothes were torn and his glasses trampled on after he was attacked by angry investors who blame him for them losing 40 billion yuan [HK$48 billion].

Song Hongbing said he was assaulted on Saturday while giving a talk at a hotel in Taiyuan, in Shanxi province, by the investors who bought shares in financial products managed by Fanya Metal Exchange, which is at the centre of an investment scandal.

...Song leapt to fame on the mainland in 2007 after writing a conspiracy-theory bestseller Currency Wars – a book suggesting that Western financial institutions, including the US Federal Reserve, are controlled by a group of bankers that remain loyal to the Rothschild family.

Background on Fanya.

FT: Chinese celebrity author apologises for endorsing Fanya

A bestselling Chinese author has apologised to investors for endorsing the Fanya Metals Exchange in a rare acknowledgment of the role celebrities and state media play in promoting high-interest products to the Chinese public.

Caixin: Author Disavows Letter Backing Angry Investors, Citing Physical Attacks

A controversial best-selling author has disavowed any links to a government-backed commodities exchange that has been accused of fraud, saying he wrote a letter apologizing for his support of the bourse only because angry investors physically attacked him.

Chinese silver futures market is three times the size of CME; does this sound like a bubble?

And 4 times the size of its gold market. From Song Hongbing's weibo (author of Currency Wars).

刚才一位上海金交所的朋友上山来看我，才知道上海金交所每年的白银交易规模高达20万吨，已经是3年前的20倍之多！虽然规模上超过了CME，但定价权却仍然受制于人，因为他们是国内的封闭市场。可以说，中国白银市场的水已经相当深，如果打开闸门将明显影响世界价格。上海金交所的白银交易已是黄金的4倍！

The price is still controlled by regulators and it is an internal market only. But as Song Hongbing asks, imagine the impact when this market is opened!

The market has grown so large that the exchange is moving to kick out retail (small investor) traders.

现在金交所是在努力压缩白银交易规模，否则明年可能达到36万吨！他们现在有意识地将10万元以下的小客户赶走，年龄超过50岁的也不欢迎。2008年黄金暴跌时，5公斤以上的客户资金都没有问题，全部风险都在5公斤以下的散户。散户神经比较脆弱。

The silver market is on pace to grow from 200,000 tons to 360,000 tons next year if nothing is done. Right now they are getting rid of customers with assets below 100,000 yuan ($15,000) and over the age of 50. In 2008, all of the risk was in the 5kg and under retail customers, customers above that amount had adequate capital.

Those looking for a bubble in precious metals need to be looking at China.