JPMorgan And HSBC Used "Secret Signals" To Manipulate The Silver Market

Angry Trader:
JPMorgan And HSBC Used "Secret Signals" To Manipulate The Silver Market, And They Bragged About It
Trader Peter Laskaris alleges that HSBC and JPmorgan manipulated the price of silver, causing him to lose money.

In his lawsuit against the two banks, Laskaris describes an elaborate plot with "diverse means" involving both lawful and unlawful acts committed by both JPMorgan and HSBC.

One sign this lawsuit is weird is that it doesn't separate what JPMorgan did from what HSBC did. Laskaris says they did almost exactly the same things, including:

Holding large positions in silver futures and silver options
Making large trades at key times
Making large "spoof" orders that are placed and then canceled after the order has influenced the price
Colluding, or communicating or signaling their trades to each other (JPM to HSBC and vice versa)
So according to the lawsuit, they were in it together.

A few interesting points:

The lawsuit says JPMorgan traders "bragged about their large trades which successfully moved silver prices."
It says that both banks cleaned up their behavior after conspiracy theories became public and the CFTC started investigating the claims, around March 2010. Soon after this time, he says, the price of silver futures rose.

It says JPMorgan and HSBC "calculated to conceal" their fraudulent activity through "secret signals, meetings and/or conversations."
Laskaris says he lost money because of the activity.