JPMorgan’s depository holds more COMEX silver than any other warehouse in the latest report. Asahi holds considerably more of the silver already registered for exchange delivery.
CME’s report dated October 8, covering October 7 activity, records 333.07 million ounces across approved depositories. Of that, 102.22 million ounces were registered.
The breakdown reveals two very different inventory profiles:
- JPMorgan: 128.13 million ounces total, including 6.87 million registered.
- Asahi: 52.21 million ounces total, including 38.69 million registered.
Asahi therefore held roughly 5.6 times as much registered silver, despite storing less than half JPMorgan’s total inventory.
The distinction comes from the warehouse warrant. Under CME’s warehouse rules, registered metal has a warrant issued against it. Eligible metal meets the applicable requirements but has no warrant issued. Approximately 74% of Asahi’s reported silver was registered, compared with just over 5% at JPMorgan.
That distribution changes how we assess concentration. Asahi accounted for nearly 38% of all COMEX registered silver. JPMorgan accounted for about 6.7%. Ranking warehouses by total ounces would give us a very different picture of where warranted inventory sits.
There is an ownership distinction, too. An approved depository provides custody. Its name on the report does not establish that it owns every ounce stored there. These figures cannot tell us either institution’s proprietary silver position or its customers’ willingness to sell.
For us, the useful finding is how strongly custody and registration are distributed across different facilities. Anyone assessing the concentration of COMEX’s registered inventory needs the registered column—not simply a ranking of its biggest vaults.
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