CME Group announced yet another series of margin requirement increases for gold and silver futures contracts.

Effective after the close of business today, initial and maintenance margin requirements on gold and silver will increase 50%, according to CME Group.  CME is the owner and operator of the New York Mercantile Exchange and Commodity Exchange (COMEX), on which precious metals futures contracts are traded.

Today’s announcement follows several margin increases over the past year, as the exchange seeks to limit speculation as precious metals continue to surge higher.

While these decisions have often led to short-time sell-offs in gold and silver, history has shown that these measures have little to no effect over the longer-term.

If the CME and federal policymakers are trying to suppress the price of gold and silver, as many have suggested, they would be much better served urging Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to end his reckless quantitative easing programs instead.