“Banks short 4.4B oz silver” is meme-math. COMEX silver = 5,000 oz/ctrt. CFTC BPR (6Jan26): total OI 153,240 ctrts; banks gross short 65,865 (=329Moz). 4.4B oz = 880k ctrts → >5× total OI (impossible). OI ≠ metal owed: futures mostly hedged/rolled; delivery rare.