This is incorrect. Local coin shops widen buy spreads at all-time highs because of volatility and shallow retail market depth, not because of a freeze or a shortage. An LCS is a retailer, not a trading desk. When someone walks in with thousands of ounces at an ATH, the shop is being asked to absorb directional risk into a balance sheet that clears locally, not globally. Local demand may be weak even while global demand is strong, which means the dealer cannot immediately recycle that metal without taking exposure.
The dealer cannot simply take silver at spot and pass it straight through. He has to hold inventory through volatility and then find a wholesaler whose own bids are widened for the same reasons. That risk compounds at each layer, so buy prices move far under spot as a defensive measure. This is normal retail metals behavior during price extremes, and the video is mischaracterizing volatility-driven inventory management as a systemic failure of the silver market.
The dealer cannot simply take silver at spot and pass it straight through. He has to hold inventory through volatility and then find a wholesaler whose own bids are widened for the same reasons. That risk compounds at each layer, so buy prices move far under spot as a defensive measure. This is normal retail metals behavior during price extremes, and the video is mischaracterizing volatility-driven inventory management as a systemic failure of the silver market.