I'm a stacker. I'm constantly looking at silver and gold prices, the spread, inventories, premiums, derivatives in SLV, etc, etc.
The obvious trend since SVB went down was a move to towards safer assets, let it be a "too big to fail bank (lol)", government securities (lol), and precious metals. Premiums on 1 oz silver rounds (generic) are nearly $5 anywhere you look. My local coin shop (LCS) was charging $4.75 per ounce over spot on generics, which is actually lower than the vast majority on JM bullion and SD bullion.
With silver spot being 24.25 as we speak, a $5+ premium is nearly a 20% premium on the price. Higher premiums almost always mean high demand and low supply. Inventory on the comex is dropping at a pretty staggering rate (277 million oz left) and the entire comex could be drained with a mere $6.6 billion dollars.
My LCS said it's been insane since the banks began to fail. Way more buyers than sellers.
The price of silver specifically has been artificially suppressed by the big banks through derivatives and artificial contracts traded amongst the big banks. As inventory continues to drain, the dollar falls, BRICS grows it's membership, and uncertainty remains, precious metals SHOULD skyrocket.
Ultimately, I don't invest in PMs are a get rich quick scheme, but they really are a great store of value. Not investment advice, but holding silver and gold, while you can still get it, could be an answer to rapidly rising inflation.
All metals are a good store of value because they are used to actually make things.
For example, copper is great because it is the primary tool for electric power transmission. Or it is the primary metal in bronze, or a thousand other uses. Same for all the other metals, including platinum. Each of these elements have unique properties that people have found use for, some more than others.
Iron is probably the most useful, but also the most plentiful, so its not necessarily the best investment unless you plan to actually use it yourself.
Because we live in an electric world, silver is probably the most useful v. the amount available (not to mention it's "beauty" properties). Copper is up on the list as well, mostly because it has similar (albeit inferior) properties to silver, without being as rare. Tin, nickel, lead, titanium are all very useful. Aluminum as well, but that is the second most plentiful so it falls into the same category as iron.
Basically, imo, you can't go wrong with any metal asset. All are worth far more than the volume it takes to store them. All of their values will go way up if the SHTF.
Agreed. Even nickle can land you a nice plus.