We are very grateful to see so many others reporting what we have been saying for the past several months. Silver and gold are should have a great 2018 and follow up with a great 2019. Will it be the ten of thousands percent gains like the cryptos? No, but it the advances will be real, tangible and upward. Also, the gains will be associated with real wealth not an blip on a screen.
Silver Is a Metal to Watch in the New Year
The price of silver is up 10% in three weeks. That’s unusual for silver right now.
We only saw silver rise 10% within a month four times this year. The last time it rose 10% in three weeks was almost a year ago.
Like gold, 2016 was a strong year for silver. The price soared through the first half of the year. It ended down from its high, but still up 15% overall.
However, in 2017, the silver price only gained 4%. The price bounced up and down, never really breaking out. You can see what I mean from the chart below:
Historically, the price of silver is much more volatile than gold or platinum. However, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve economic data (FRED), the volatility fell dramatically in 2017.
The FRED data on the volatility of the iShares Silver Trust ETF (NYSE: SLV) goes back to 2011. During most of that period, the index stayed around 30.
Rarely did it fall below 20. In 2014, it fell that low. In 2017, it stayed below 20 for the last couple of months.
Unfortunately, there’s little correlation between silver’s price and volatility.
At most, the low volatility shows that silver suffered from benign neglect in 2017. The silver ETF just didn’t get as much attention in 2017 as it did in 2016.
However, if the trend that began at the end of the year continues, that will change in 2018. Silver is a metal to watch in the new year.
After our conversation with Craig Hemke yesterday we are more optimistic than before. Silver and gold are set up for a stellar year and if we could convince a 100 or more of these new crypto millionaires to attack the COMEX and LBMA we could see some real fireworks. Imagine what would happen if, independently, crypto millionaires began attacking the precious metals markets? Decentralized contracts flooding into the precious markets that actually are there to take possession? Would this have any effect or would these criminal enterprises simply change the rules and move on? We know they would force the participants to accept cash, as this is how the contracts are set up, but this would only expose the problem further.
We are very optimistic about the precious metals in 2018 and plan on adding as much to our stack as possible here in the early days of the year. Premiums are low, gold and silver are the most undervalued assets on the planet and it appears we have a little wind at our back.
