Platinum Price Manipulation Claims Explained

Platinum is a shiny, rare metal used in car parts, jewelry, and electronics. Its price should come from normal buying and selling. But for years, people have said big banks twist these prices to make extra money. These claims point to tricks like spoofing and fixing fake benchmark prices.

Spoofing happens when traders place huge fake orders to fool the market. They might put in big buy orders just below the current price right before a daily price fix. This pushes the price up a bit for their gain, then they cancel the orders. The same works for sell orders to drop prices. In precious metals like platinum, this spoofing targeted fixings, where banks set official prices twice a day. A small shift helped their huge trades win big. For example, one bank trader placed large sell orders above market price on gold option expiry day, dropping the fix just enough to profit.https://goldiraguide.org/gold-manipulation-how-precious-metals-price-fixing-led-to-fraud/

Banks faced lawsuits over platinum and palladium, close cousins to platinum. Traders from places like Goldman Sachs and HSBC got caught. In 2024, four companies including those banks paid $20 million to settle claims of rigging platinum and palladium benchmark prices. Courts said this manipulation made non-bank sellers raise their prices too, hurting buyers down the line. A U.S. appeals court in 2025 backed claims that benchmark tricks led to higher costs passed on widely.https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/second-circuit-ruling-nexstar-directv.pdf https://discoveryalert.com.au/precious-metals-pricing-transition-2025/

Why platinum? Big banks control much of the trading. They run auctions and warehouses. Past phone-based fixes lacked clear records, letting secret chats set prices to suit themselves. Since 2014, places like the London Metal Exchange switched to electronic auctions for better tracking. But old habits died hard, leading to fines. Now, the LME plans to end platinum and palladium auctions by mid-2026, shifting to new electronic setups like those for gold and silver.https://discoveryalert.com.au/precious-metals-pricing-transition-2025/

Warehouses play a role too. Banks delay metal releases to keep supplies tight and prices high. They meet rules by shuffling metal between their own spots, not to real buyers. This echoes aluminum tricks by Goldman Sachs, where waits jumped from six months to 16, hiking costs for everyone.https://www.usmoneyreserve.com/news/executive-insights/gold-and-the-aluminum-price-manipulation-scandal/

Even today, platinum stocks move in odd ways. In 2025, metal poured into U.S. exchange warehouses amid high prices and supply worries. Chinese imports spiked, but outflows followed, showing global flows chase fixes over real demand. Futures trade at premiums to spot prices, pulling more metal in.https://platinuminvestment.com/files/954835/WPIC_Platinum_Quarterly_Q3_2025.pdf

These cases mirror wider precious metals issues. Silver and gold saw similar spoofing fines, like Deutsche Bank’s $38 million in 2016. Traders met secretly to rig fixes. Courts let investor suits go forward on platinum claims too, saying benchmark cheats create broad harm.https://goldiraguide.org/gold-manipulation-how-precious-metals-price-fixing-led-to-fraud/https://www.casemine.com/commentary/us/priced-out-buyers-and-output-reduction-injury:-the-second-circuit-expands-antitrust-standing-in-directv,-llc-v.-nexstar-media-group,-inc./view

Sources
https://goldiraguide.org/gold-manipulation-how-precious-metals-price-fixing-led-to-fraud/
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/second-circuit-ruling-nexstar-directv.pdf
https://discoveryalert.com.au/precious-metals-pricing-transition-2025/
https://www.usmoneyreserve.com/news/executive-insights/gold-and-the-aluminum-price-manipulation-scandal/
https://platinuminvestment.com/files/954835/WPIC_Platinum_Quarterl