We see manipulation every day, including this morning when the market opened for trading. Silver gaped up 0.33, but was beaten down with UN-ending paper shorts. The thing I see lately, it takes more volume of short to knock down the price. Each attempt has less effect as the price returns either immediately or within a few days. When the shorts have to buy back their shares, watch out on the other side as there may be no bid, on the sell side.
Yes, I recently heard about a technical change in the arrangement of the market. That the speculators and commercial traders flipped with each other (one long the other short). This was in the Commitment of Traders Report. It is supposed to be a bullish sign for silver.