Why I would NEVER buy ...silver...
topstuf
Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
I did at one time. NEVER AGAIN.
https://www.traderslog.com/hunt-brothers-silver
"Things began to change once Paul Volker was named Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Volker was determined to get inflation under control by raising interest rates. Couple that with changes in trading rules at the CBOT and COMEX, prices soon plummeted. Things had gotten so out of whack that COMEX only accepted liquidation orders, effectively halting silver from going higher. The CBOT set limits on the amount of silver any one entity could hold and raised margins. Not surprisingly prices came down significantly quickly and were trading near $10 by the end of March 1980.
The precipitous drop in prices meant huge losses for many speculators and ultimately forced the Hunt brothers into bankruptcy."
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That's why I hate silver and will never buy another gram.
Governments the world over are too smart to ever trust silver as a currency reserve.
.
Of course, that's an indictment of the overbearing US gov't too. Simply violate rights. Nope, you can't buy no silver! You can only SELL it.
Comments
Silver Thursday March 27, 1980. Not sure what's the point in that article. I think $10 silver is a foregone history.
That would come the day after it hits $32.50
You mean you hate silver because the government stepped in when it discovered the markets were being manipulated?
Nothing to worry about these days, JPM already cornered it.
Keep an open mind, or get financially repressed -Zoltan Pozsar
Hmmm, OK.
Sorry for your loss.
One less player in the game, I'm cool with that
Hunts made it all back on the Chiefs.
Its still 80% higher than 40 years ago. Tbats pretty good, no?
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
Wow, pretty good!
What's the 10 year % return??
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Or the 9 year?
Lmao at silver.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
No. Buy the junk if you want to.
40 year return is about 1.5% per annum. 🤪
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
I made a lot of money in silver bullion and silver forward contracts in 1978-1980. I remember a precipitous drop to around $35 from the peak of around $50, but I really don't remember a drop to $10 in March of 1980 (I was out of the market around $30 or so, except for a brief foray back into the market when I dropped a quick $1,000.)
You mean you hate silver because the government stepped in when it discovered the markets were being manipulated?
The manipulators back then were following all of the established rules at the time, and no laws were being broken. It was the gov't and the exchanges who changed the rules (liquidation only and higher margin requirements) in the middle of the game, and nothing's been the same ever since. (Actually, nothing's been the same since Graham, Leech Bliley in 1999.)
Today, the manipulation is done routinely, every single day - by the Fed and the exchanges - breaking their own laws behind the curtain for the sole benefit of the owners of the Fed and gov.com's Treasury Dept.
@Baley said:
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Wow, pretty good!
What's the 10 year % return??
40 year return is about 1.5% per annum. 🤪
Gee, I missed the boat on that one. I forgot to hold onto everything for those 40 years.
I knew it would happen.
Wow, that's like saying Silver dropped big when Lincoln was assassinated, so it should hold true today. 40 years ago is ancient history in the markets.
Whhaaaaa??? You let your insurance lapse!!??
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
As someone who has referred to PMs as “insurance”....I must admit that I got a good chuckle out of that.
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
Always count on the Govt changing the rules.
Rigged rigged rigged
I got lucky in 1980,was able to sell a boatload of 90% at 48. I don't recall what the x face was but it was a happy sale and it started to crash the next day as I recall.
I've dabbled in it since then and just sold all except my D.Carr's. IMO it's time to stay away. I'll stick with gold for now.
You let your insurance lapse!!??
As someone who has referred to PMs as “insurance”....I must admit that I got a good chuckle out of that.
Glad to oblige you.
From 1981 to about 1998, I didn't see as much need for this type of insurance. In 1999, when a "Republican" Congress and Clinton decided to give free reign to the banking system to legalize securitized mortgage loans, and to dissolve the previous Chinese wall between commercial banking and mortgage banking, I decided right then and there that the game was 100% changed and that I needed real insurance.
In 2006 & 2007, while the first real estate bubble was going nuts and newbies were flipping houses with no worries about how much debt they were taking on - that's when I knew I was not going to participate in the casino.
It's even worse now, because it's been global for quite some time. Baley's diversified re-balancing approach is somewhat financially and strategically sound, but considering the worldwide pile of debt and the unsustainable trajectory of government obligations and profligate spending, I do think that all of the previous navigational rules for financial survival are out the window.
If you know "the answer" please message me.
It's not as if TPTP have suddenly become moral or honest. Just sayin'.
I knew it would happen.
PMs are my insurance against the bankers' insurance ($Trillions in derivatives).
Keep an open mind, or get financially repressed -Zoltan Pozsar
ttt........ttt............ttt...........
Recent market action states better than I can how utterly idiotic it is to expect ..... (tee hee) .... SILVER to be the safe haven metal.
Silver is an INDUSTRIAL thingy. Just exactly what will drop and drop drastically in any depression or flight to hard assets.
I found out that physical silver is just really heavy and bulky to store in amounts that matter enough to make a difference in my financial picture. Once the boxes got to big to carry by myself, i had to put new investments money into more compact gold bullion, and numismatic coins of all 3 obsolete circulating elements.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Haul 5 bags of 90% to Long Beach to swap for gold and you'll be even MORE satisfied with your gold.
EVERYONE should have silver in their stash. It's poor man's gold, don'tcha know?
I knew it would happen.
Then swap the gold for a high grade problem-free 1797 half dime in a cointain holder. 😉
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
I get what everyone is saying and totally understand. I am just trying to diversify my PM. Some of this; some of that. Even a little Bitcoin in case the world goes better than planned
GSR 96 to 1. Hard to ignore that ratio.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars? Silver is out of the question obviously. But for small stackers it's a matter of when not if.
I’d like to say my move to all gold last year was a smart and savvy prediction on my part. But in reality, it was just because my silver holdings were just so damn bulky. Don’t miss storing that heavy boat anchor of a stack that I had. I love stacking the gold!
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
I know a fella who has 10,481 silver eagles.
Keep an open mind, or get financially repressed -Zoltan Pozsar
Many of us have a "a fella I know" in our lives. You're my ASE fella derryb.
I know another fella on here who has millions of wheat cents in a dozen big trash cans, in his garage with his Ferrari.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
I still rescue 95% copper cents from circulation. When I was a kid, my grampa had a roll of Indian Cents he told me that you couldn't find them in circulation anymore. I asked why not, and he said "because people saved them." I asked why. He said, "because they don't make them anymore."
It took me awhile, but now I think that I understand.
I knew it would happen.
I wish I could still go to a show and pick VF Walkers out of a pile for $1.75 each.
Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.
How do you FEEL about trading silver
I just picked up a 1 ounce Canadian. 9999 for $18 and let go a common Morgan for $89.
I traded some silver for gold when the ratio was 85/1. I want to trade more and am trying to wait for the ratio to improve, but it just keeps getting worse. I suppose keeping some silver is good, but it is just so bulky and heavy.
? 120 maybe sooner than one thinks...
The price of silver kinda reminds me of watching a pelican fly along the beach. It's nice to have some anyway. You never know.
I knew it would happen.
When a large silver bullion bar can be used as a door stopper because it is so worthless, I might bite.
Whatever
Whhaaaaa??? You let your insurance lapse!!??
That was then (and it wasn't needed). This is now. (And I'm glad it hasn't lapsed).
I knew it would happen.
That is too much to count. I prefer scores of 100 oz Engelhards.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907-cac/alltimeset/268163
Silver was so "worthless" at one time that Warren Buffet of all people decided to start cornering the market the same way the Hunts tried to. The problem the Hunts had is that they didn't buy all physical. They started with mainly futures contracts and then had to suffer through late 1979 with a change in the rule books after they defeated the PTB at their own game. Buffet accumulated $1 BILL in silver from 1996-2006. For some reason he cashed out early .....probably at the "urging" of the FED/govt. It was a nice play though as he got roughly to about the same level as the Hunts did....but 100% in physical metal....over 1 yr in world production.
Silver over $35/oz in later 1979 was already FULLY priced. That final move to $50 was sheer insanity. And like all mania markets they burst. With or without the rule changes the SEC/FED came up with that market was going to crash. Gold crashed too, without the same "input" from Volker and Co. If you were trading silver on the long side at over $35/oz in fall of 1979 just consider yourself another sheep who got sucked up in the hype. Don't blame Volcker for your trading short-comings.