How do COMEX Registered vs Eligible silver inventories differ and why does it matter?

1. What “Registered” and “Eligible” actually mean inside the COMEX plumbing

COMEX splits its warehouse stock into Registered — eligible silver for which a warrant has been issued and therefore can be used to settle futures — and Eligible — bars that meet good-delivery specifications but have no warrant attached and thus cannot be used for contract delivery until converted ^{[2] [1]}. Practically, Registered is the subset of physical metal the exchange treats as immediately deliverable; Eligible sits in the system but remains, for now, off-limits to fulfill contractual obligations ^[5].

2. How conversion and delivery mechanics create optionality

Owners or custodians can convert Eligible into Registered by having a depository issue a warrant and meet lot-size and documentation rules, effectively making the metal available for delivery; Registered can likewise be returned to Eligible when warrants are removed ^{[6] [2]}. That conversion is the plumbing traders watch: during delivery months or stress, Eligible is commonly converted to Registered to meet demand, while in calmer periods Registered may shift back into the Eligible pool ^[4].

3. Why the distinction matters for price dynamics and “squeeze” narratives

Because only Registered ounces can legally satisfy a long’s demand for physical delivery, a small Registered stock relative to open interest raises the prospect of delivery pressure and potential backwardation — where spot trades above futures — and fuels squeeze narratives when paper claims exceed available deliverable metal ^{[3] [4]}. Analysts and market participants therefore treat Registered inventory as the critical metric for assessing whether the futures market can be settled physically without stress, whereas Eligible is treated as contingent supply ^[7].

4. The interpretive gap: eligible is not the same as available

Market commentators note that a large Eligible number can give a false sense of abundant supply because a substantial portion of Eligible may be held long-term or otherwise unavailable for rapid conversion; some observers use rules of thumb (e.g., roughly half of Eligible may effectively be unavailable) when estimating true deliverable supply — a point that injects uncertainty into headline “total inventory” counts ^{[8] [9]}. This interpretive gap is central to disputes between bearish-skeptic analysts and bullish commentators who warn that published totals overstate the market’s immediate physical liquidity ^{[9] [10]}.

5. Recent patterns, reporting biases and vested narratives

Recent reporting shows periods where large slices of Eligible have been converted to Registered to satisfy delivery demand, and other times when Registered fell sharply even as Eligible rose — patterns emphasized by niche bullion blogs and retail-focused mints that tend toward bullish interpretations of tight deliverable supplies ^{[4] [10] [6]}. Institutional rule filings and exchange audits, however, frame the system as operationally robust with daily reporting and annual reconciliations required of depositories, a regulatory context that tempers alarm but doesn’t remove the operational delivery constraints ^[2].

6. Practical takeaway and limits of public data

For traders and analysts the takeaway is straightforward: Registered inventory is the operative short-term deliverable buffer; Eligible represents potential but uncertain supply and must be treated accordingly when comparing ounces to the paper market’s open interest ^{[3] [7]}. Public COMEX reports and third‑party trackers disclose quantities and movements, but they cannot always reveal owners’ intentions or encumbrances on Eligible metal, so conclusions about “real” deliverable supply necessarily include informed assumptions rather than certainties ^{[2] [8]}.