Silver Down 3%, Hits 2012 Low (and going lower) SLV

This is a market which has fascinated and dumbfounded me for many years. From our Jan. 3, 2012 post "Lines on Charts: Silver":

Silver futures are trading at $28.875 up $1.005.
I happen to know something about this market and because of that very rarely post on it.*
From Nifty Charts (that's Nifty as in the Indian equity index)...
...If China's economy implodes you can kiss that $26 support goodbye and look for a $16 handle....

It has also supplied me with one of the great (little known) investing quotes of all time. From 2009's "How to Break a Market Corner: Breeding Breakthrough Helps Sushi Baron Create Sustainable Tuna":

*In January 1980, as the Hunt Brothers were gunning the price of silver toward it's historic high, the CEO of one of the world's largest trading firms said "Those boys don't know what deep pockets are", rather an amazing statement when talking about billionaires.
Within 48 hours both U.S. silver futures exchanges had gone "Liquidation only", the corner was broken and the Hunt's had lost their fortunes.
I'll leave it to you to guess the CEO.

At the time the Hunt boys were worth around $6 Billion.
Here's today's story, from MarketBeat:
Silver Prices Slide to 2012 Low; Watch That $26 Level

Silver continues to take its lumps today, dropping about 3% and hitting a 2012 low. At least one investor thinks the carnage in silver prices could continue into the end of the quarter.

Silver, as well as gold, have been hit hard today amid worries of slowing global economic growth and Europe’s debt crisis. The threat of slowing industrial demand for silver is weighing heavily on prices.
Silver was recently down 3% at $26.135 an ounce. Prices are down about 30% since peaking in late February.

Michael Shaoul, chairman of Marketfield Asset Management in New York, notes silver has been in a long-term downtrend since the middle of last year, and prices are pressing against a “key support level” that has been in place for about a year and a half....MORE

Some of our 2012 silver posts:

Jan 29, 2012 
Silver Closing the Gaps, Look Out Below (SLV)
Jan 30, 2012 
Silver ETF: "SLV Near Triple Resistance"
Feb 2012 
Warren Buffet and the Great Silver Market Corner of 1998 (BRK.B)
May 18, 2012 
Dear Silver Bugs: There are a Billion Ounces of Supply Coming on the Market This Year

And many more in prior years.