The soaring paper gold open interest on the Comex is just one indication of a shortage developing in the physical gold bullion market. It's no coincidence that just prior and accompanying the sell-off in gold this week that Exchange for "Physical" and Privately Negotiated Transactions (EFPs and PNTs) volume spiked up on the Comex. EFPs and PNTs are "derivative" transactions which enable the bullion banks to settle futures with cash or some other form of gold derivatives like shares of [[GLD]].
There are other indications as well, which Chris Marcus and I discuss this week