Money Morning Article of the Week
by Jim Bach, Money Morning
We have recommended that you buy silver at the current low levels for months.
Not necessarily because silver’s due for a huge spike – although that case was made in our 2015 silver price forecast – but because if you buy silver in small allocations, it can act as insurance for your broader portfolio in case markets go south.
What may be hard for some investors to stomach, however, is that silver prices are highly volatile. In 2014, the spot price of silver swung between a closing high of $21.965 in February and a closing low of $15.315 in November – a 28.6% drop.
And even in 2015, the same volatility persists. Silver prices this year have been up as much 16.7% and down as much as 1.4%. They’re currently up 6.5% on the year, closing yesterday (Monday) at $16.705 an ounce.
When looking at this silver price volatility, it’s important to remember that you’re not going to buy silver for the home run.
“I have physical silver,” Money Morning Defense & Tech Specialist Michael A. Robinson said earlier this year.
“I might have bought some at the top, but I don’t care what the price goes to; I will not sell that physical silver. It’s there for a reason – just like I have insurance on my car, I have insurance in case of a disaster.”
But even if that’s not enough to help you cope with the violent swings in silver prices this year, technical indicators are slowly aligning to make a compelling case for investors to buy silver.
Here’s why…
Buy Silver Ahead of Favorable Technical Indicators
Silver is a much more thinly traded market than its sister metal, gold. There is also a lot of overlap in the profiles of traders who buy silver and gold.
Both metals serve as safe-haven assets. Say there’s some geopolitical tensions abroad, or the markets panic – you are likely to see a lot of money pour into the gold markets. And residual precious metal interest will then find its way into silver as well.
Since trading volume for silver is much smaller, it tends to get a bigger boost than gold prices when these market events happen. But, similarly, when investors flee gold, silver will crash in a much more dramatic fashion.
Just look at the chart below…
