It could be but if you looked at the data at silver institute supply and demand. You'll find that even in economy declined the demands for silver doesn't decline a lot. Fundamentally it results in at max 5% more output than demand. This is okay and normal for a market but silver's price already includes an artificial paper silver supply of 300+ ounces for every physical silver so technically this shouldn't affect the price which is why I called it as manipulation. Manipulation can be done with money or with propaganda to steal dumb money who sell based on economic slowdow both are same in my eyes.