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.
Clif high has mentioned $600 an ounce for silver. That'd be the day..
I just wonder what $600 will buy when it gets to that level. 8/1-16/1 should be the difference between gold and silver as a ratio. Not 80+ oz of silver to 1 oz of gold. Silver comes out of the ground as a biproduct of other mining at a ratio of 8 ozs per 1 oz of gold. Silver is the best conductor of electricity and is also a monetary metal. It's honestly a straight up value play.
The same thing that it will buy now, approximately.
At least for gold; if you look throughout history, one ounce of gold today will buy you pretty much the same things it did 100 years ago, 200 years ago, and even further back.
That’s the whole point of precious metals is that they are a store of value; they protect the wealth that you have earned.
At least that’s my humble understanding. :-)
That's what I see people failing to understand. 1oz of gold will always be worth 1oz of gold. It only appears to skyrocket in value when compared to a devaluing currency. It's not the gold going up, it's the value of your wages going down.