Silver Is the New Gold

The word ‘Argentum’ is unfamiliar to most people, but when we say silver, everyone knows it. Argentum is actually the Latin word for silver. Silver always plays second fiddle to another precious metal, gold, but this element has its special properties that deserve our attention.

Silver has a wide range of uses and demands worldwide owing to its conductivity, reflectivity and photosensitivity. It is the best thermal and electrical conductor of all the metals, thus, silver is ideal for electrical applications. Its antimicrobial quality makes it useful in medicinal products. Its high luster and reflectivity make it perfect for jewellery, silverware and mirrors. Photosensitivity has also given silver an important place in the film photography.

Since silver is part and parcel to our daily life, let’s take a look at the main events occurred that caused the silver prices to fluctuate in the past years. In 1979, silver experienced a price hike of 712%, from $6 per troy ounce to $48.70 per troy ounce. However, its price dropped to under $11 on the famous ‘Silver Thursday’ in 1980 due to the manipulation of silver market by the Hunt brothers. They invested heavily in futures contracts and when the silver price dropped under their minimum margin requirement, they were issued a margin call but they missed it and the market plunged. The silver market took 13 years to recover from the market manipulation scheme.

Today, silver is trading at approximately $16 an ounce. Its price relies largely on global economic conditions. There are several factors such as interest rates, inflation and low gold/silver ratio that give insight to the 2016 silver prices. Historically, there was always a price drop after an interest rate hike as in the year 1975 where the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered its funds rate below 2% causing the silver price to soar. As for 2016, the Federal Open Market Committee met at the end of April and elected not to raise rates. This is definitely good news for silver prices. In addition to interest rates, global inflation remains a factor in the pricing of precious metals, thus, actions of central banks particularly in Europe and Asia can impact the price. Another factor that affects the silver prices is the gold/silver ratio which shows the relative price of silver to that of gold. The ratio hit the record of 83 in the first quarter of 2016 but has been coming back down steadily. It’s a good sign for investors.

Silver is the new gold. Access the professional market and buy part of a good delivery bar or even whole bars via BOOKCOINS. You’ll benefit from the same low costs for buying and storing as the professionals and you’ll be participating in the deepest pool of physical silver liquidity in the world. BOOKCOINS offers a secure and easy way of investing in silver. Think of silver investment, think of BOOKCOINS!

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Silver Is the New Gold