Silver Investment Opportunities

The most common silver investing method is through purchasing silver bullion bars. These bars are made in sizes between 1-1000 ounces and some countries even allow investors to purchase bullion bars from high street banks completely over the counter. After purchasing, investors will either store the bars inside their private home safe or with a dealer.

Silver coins are a relatively new investing method that began in the 20th century when the value of silver exceeded the coin's face value. When it comes to silver coins, there are two different types--fine and "junk." Both types do possess a silver value that is dependent upon pure silver's weight. Most American junk coins are either sterling silver or contain 90% pure silver while most Canadian junk coins have 80% and the majority of British junk have 92.5%.

There is also the option of silver rounds that are made from.999 fine silver. These rounds are considered to be a hybrid coin/bar; however, they are not legal tender. Despite this fact, they are quite the popular choice for collectors as there is the option of striking them with custom-made designs.

Many major funds hold a great deal of silver reserves, which allow investors to purchase silver without having to actually hold or store it. Instead of purchasing actual silver, these investors will buy units in the holding company in order to purchase silver at a price that is equal to the actual assets' value. Among the major funds, ETFS Silver Trust and iShares Silver Trust are the two most common and can be bought into through a stock broker.

Silver accounts are something offered by many Swiss-based banks. They can be used to buy and sell silver instantaneously, much like foreign currency. Of course, the investor will not own actual silver but instead will possess a claim against their bank for the actual amount of silver metal.

Spread betting is a service offered by several firms in the UK and other European countries. They give investors a chance to place bets on the future price of silver. A few of the major spread betting companies include CMC Markets, IG Index, and Cantor Index.

Another silver purchasing idea is to make an investment into a silver mining company. With mining company investments, your success will be greatly dictated by the company's profit margins. And their profits rely on overhead costs as well as numerous other factors. And when silver values begin to rise, the company's shares will too. Be advised that most sliver mining companies do not only deal with silver; in most cases, silver is mined alongside of copper and zinc. This means any profits you earn from this type of investment will greatly depend on other base metals besides silver.

When choosing the appropriate investment method for your financial portfolio, you need to take a look at factors such as your available budget as well as the level of your investing savvy. One great place to find the information you need is at http://silvertoday.org

Permission to use this article is granted provided the link to Silver Today is included.

Michael Moore
http://silvertoday.org

Silver Investment And The Sands Of Time

When in comes to precious metals investing, the glittering gold may be preferred by a lot of investors when compared with silver investment all these while, but considering the fact that the price of gold is at historical high, it may be time to turn to silver a thought. The sands of time may be shifting towards silver investment.

There is an old maxim that says, "he who cannot afford the yellow metal, settle for white." That may be true. But, do you know that silver is increasing at a higher rate than gold? On the percentage increase measurement, silver outstrips gold by 2:1. From 30 July 2010 to date, sliver increased by 29% while gold increase by only 13%. Now, who is the poorer one? As long as gold continues its uptrend, sliver will become more attractive.

Although it's quite easy to buy silver, you'll need to take note of different factors of silver investment if you ever want to think about getting them.

There are actually several information on how you'll be able to buy gold, invest in gold etc, however there may be very little guides on ways you can invest in silver. Now you have to know that silver is the other precious metal besides gold. So if you find the gold price soaring, most likely the buying price of silver investment will probably follow the identical direction too.

Silver has a long history too that starts back to many years go. China was the very first nation to use silver as money some 2,500 years ago. In the USA, silver alloys are still contained in the coins that people use everyday and that has being around for 40 years.

One reason why silver is not regarded as a metal for financial purposes for the present time is because close to 50% are in fact used for industrial purposes. It is used for construction, electronics products, digital photography, wrist watches and plenty more.

The actual silver investment market is quite small, having a annual need for under nine hundred million ounces. Same as gold, spot silver price can be volatile as well. It can surge this moment and then decrease the next. It has established a recent high of $23 per troy ounce.

Although the price is already high, numerous financial gurus are predicting the rare metal to reach $30 for each ounce within years ahead. So this may be a good chance for traders who are looking at silver investment.

So how can you have an understanding of silver better? One of the ways is to see the ratio between gold and silver. It gives you a concept of how much silver is needed to purchase an ounce of precious metal. The ideal ratio should be 16:1, meaning gold is 16 times the price of silver. Based on the price of gold of close to $1,300, silver has to be around $81 but it is still quite a long approach to take from $23.

But when we look at the short term level which is much more realistic because the bull market begins in year 2000, ratio silver to gold is about 50 troy ounces of silver for an ounce of gold.

So as the silver market is picking up and demand is rising steadily, you might want to look at silver investment as part of your precious metals investing portfolio by getting spot silver, bullion bars or even coins.

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The author, Daniel Su, is a professional currency and commodity trader who provides free premium gold trading tips and resources to help traders achieve their long term financial success.