7 million ounces of Silver left COMEX vaults last week with a spike in deliveries

Over 7 million ounces of silver left COMEX vaults last week as demand for physical metal surged.

Meanwhile, CME recorded 6,168 September silver delivery notices through Sept. 18, representing a "delivery" of 30.84 million ounces, according to the CME’s delivery notice and warehouse report.

A “delivery” tied to a futures contract does not necessarily mean silver left the warehouse. Typically, it just involves transferring a warehouse warrant to the new owner without any physical movement of metal. That’s what makes 7 million ounces of physical metal leaving the warehouse in a single week notable.

For perspective, the 7.2-million-ounce silver outflow equals about 223 tonnes, roughly 2.1 percent of the total COMEX inventory.

This doesn’t indicate a looming silver shortage, but it is a notable metal outflow. It could become significant if physical deliveries become a trend.

How does COMEX delivery work?

Metal stored in a COMEX-approved warehouse can be categorized in one of two ways.  

Registered silver has an active warrant attached, meaning it is available for immediate delivery against a futures contract.

Eligible silver meets COMEX standards and is stored in an approved warehouse, but without an active warrant attached. Eligible silver is not available for delivery. The owner can register it by asking the warehouse owner to issue a warrant.

When silver is reclassified from registered to eligible, registered inventory falls and eligible inventory rises by the same amount. Conversely, registered inventory rises, and eligible inventory falls when a warrant is issued for the metal. In both operations, total COMEX inventory remains the same. That only changes when metal enters or leaves the system.

During a contract delivery month, a short that intends to deliver issues a notice through its clearing firm. A long receives the warehouse warrant and becomes the legal owner of the metal. The new owner has several options:

1. Leave the silver as registered
2. Cancel the warrant and move the metal to eligible
3. Sell or transfer the warrant
4. Cancel the warrant and arrange to move the metal out of the warehouse

What happened last week

Last week (Sept. 10-17), registered metal increased by 1.4 million ounces to 97.3 million ounces. Meanwhile, eligible silver fell by roughly 8.6 million ounces to 232.8 million ounces.

Total inventory dipped from 337.2 million ounces on Sept. 10 to 330.1 million ounces on Sept. 17, indicating around 7.1 million ounces of silver physically left COMEX vaults in that seven-day period.

CME’s reports do not establish that the silver leaving warehouses was the same metal represented by September delivery notices.

For some perspective, the drawdown was roughly 25 percent larger than the 5.75-million-ounce decline from Oct. 3-9, 2025, in the early stages of the October squeeze. It was approximately half the 13.96-million-ounce total drawdown recorded between Oct. 9 and Oct. 16.

However, it’s important to note that unlike during the October squeeze, registered inventories (silver available for delivery) increased last week. The squeeze drained nearly 14.2 million ounces from the registered category. In other words, last week’s movement signals strong physical withdrawals from COMEX vaults. However, it is not putting the same pressure on COMEX’s deliverable supply as we saw in October because plenty of registered metal remains.

Looking at the big picture, last week’s drawdown does not indicate an imminent shortage of physical metal. It could be a one-off event. However, if this level of silver outflow becomes a trend, it could lead to another silver squeeze.