When physical Silver is hard to get, do you resort to SLV?

PreTurb

As everyone has reported, physical (in hand) silver is difficult to find at near spot price, especially on down days. Do you resort to buying the paper exchange traded fund SLV? If so, what percentage of your total silver hoard is in PAPER silver?

cohodk

If you want to make money then buy SLV.

If you want to buy and tuck away a little silver for piece of mind then buy physical.

95% vs 5%. But will probably be 0% vs 100% at some point next week.

mercurynut

I prefer to hold the actual metal but I am considering adding SVL to one of my retirement accounts.

SlangNRox

I have some SLV mainly due to security issues of holding physical silver. Just bought some yesterday at under 10.50

timcoin

With bankruptcy laws the way they are, one would have to be a fool not to take possession. Everyone has heard the saying, "a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush" right? That is not just a saying....... it is the truth. Trust me on this one. Silver is way, way, too cheap, imo.

HonoluluDude

SLV is no substitute for the actual metal. You can't trade the shares in for bullion.

storm888

"SLV is no substitute for the actual metal. You can't trade the shares in for bullion. "

////////////////////////

Actually, if your broker/agent has a "sponsor" that is authorized
to deal with Barclays, you may, under some circumstances, do
"redemptions of not less than 50,000 ounces per transaction."

They will accept your 50,000 ounces and issue 50,000 SLV shares.
They will accept your 50,000 SLV shares and deliver 50,000 ounces.
Only persons designated as "sponsors" can conduct such transactions,
either on their own behalf or for their clients.

But, for all of our purposes, SLV is only a trading vehicle. And, an EXCELLENT one.

roadrunner

SLV is an excellent trading vehicle in the back pocket of the FED controlled-begging bowl banks. It will remain a "great" trading vehicle until the day that it isn't. That's the day that paper silver finds few buyers and plummets like any other company in bankruptcy. It could happen overnight where one find's their paper shares down 20-30% while physical is up 10%.

Barclay's is owned by Bank of New York, which is too close to the FED powers for my tastes. By buying into that you perpetuate their manipulation.

roadrunner

jmski52

SLV's prospectus is very clear on the issue - finding the responsible counterparty would be a nightmare - and enforcing their obligation, just forget it.

I've traded SLV in the past, and I might do it again sometime but not in this market. I took the principal and the profits and ran........and I bought physical metal. No regrets here.

Hey, if JP Morgan can get away with charging their customers storage fees for silver that never existed, what makes anyone think that SLV would somehow be any different?

cohodk

It could happen overnight where one find's their paper shares down 20-30% while physical is up 10%.

In my opinion, this would never happen. But, WTFDIK?

roadrunner

I think we're way past the TWNH times. Every month we see something new in the banking and financial world that would/should have never happened. How many thought today's bank-broken economy could have occurred 10, 15, or 20 years ago? Or the complete failure and socialization of Fannie & Freddie. Or $600 TRILLION in near worthless otc derivatives driving the "prosperity" of the financial system. Or the possibility of a great depression ever occurring again. Those were nearly unthinkable. But here were are wondering how the "unthinkable" plays out.

roadrunner

fc

<< <i>It could happen overnight where one find's their paper shares down 20-30% while physical is up 10%.

In my opinion, this would never happen. But, WTFDIK? >>



i dunno about that.

sell your SLV right now you get the going price on the market.
sell your physical right now you get a "hefty" premium about spot.
i do not mean a 50 cents to a dollar... but 2-4 dollars... seems the
disconnect has happened beyond what most would have thought.

roadrunner

Read an article today that showed the USMint with 3X today's AGE demand back in 1999 and meeting that high demand. Why can't they meet a fraction of that demand today? Is it really because of a blank shortage or a true metal shortage? Why do they list the identical working inventory of gold (to the ounce) for the past 28 months? It sounds like their gold accounting is about as accurate as West Point/Fort Knox. If gold coins are having problems meeting demand, it would seem logical that silver is only far worse off.

US AGE's - what's the story?

roadrunner

jamakin

I read that artical and thought hmmm what was the price of gold at the time the mint sales had such a spike and yet the mint had no problem replenishing supply.
if you look at the chart for gold from 1995 to present
kitco chart '95 '-08
the mint was buying gold in a declining market from 1996 to 2000 , no huge price spikes up or down in that period but a slow decline.
Contrast that period with today's situation of buying gold in a market just comming off all time highs and the mystery is not that hard to solve.

fc

<< <i>Read an article today that showed the USMint with 3X today's AGE demand back in 1999 and meeting that high demand. Why can't they meet a fraction of that demand today? Is it really because of a blank shortage or a true metal shortage? Why do they list the identical working inventory of gold (to the ounce) for the past 28 months? It sounds like their gold accounting is about as accurate as West Point/Fort Knox. If gold coins are having problems meeting demand, it would seem logical that silver is only far worse off.

US AGE's - what's the story?

roadrunner >>



they were not prepared for the demand and have to adjust accordingly..
and due to their suppliers, being limited to US mined silver, cannot
keep up?

if only they could buy just any silver there would not be such an issue?

HonoluluDude

<< <i>
They will accept your 50,000 ounces and issue 50,000 SLV shares.
They will accept your 50,000 SLV shares and deliver 50,000 ounces.
Only persons designated as "sponsors" can conduct such transactions,
either on their own behalf or for their clients.
>>



Ha! Let me know if any of you are successful in trading in your shares for bullion.

mkman123

if you can trade in your shares, get the bullion and then start selling it on here, ebay, etc. You will get much more for the physical silver!