There are many ways to invest in silver and you need to focus on which are going to work within your framework and goals of investing. While investing is a personal matter and you will have different goals or reasons why you want to invest in silver, the best ways to start investing in silver are:
- Physical Coins And Bullion
- ETFs Or Exchange Traded Notes
- Options
- Individual Silver Mining Companies
- Antiques (Scrap Bullion)
Physical Coins And Bullion
One of the most popular ways you can invest in silver is with physical bullion and coins. There are multiple designs and brands of physical silver available and many different weights. This gives you a lot of flexibility in how much you want to invest at one time.
Physical bullion and coins are usually bought and sold based on the weight of silver such as 1OZ Silver Eagle Coins. This makes for an easy way to track value and determine how much your silver is worth based on the spot price and resale/purchase value.
Types Of Physical Silver
There are 3 main types of physical Silver you can buy; Silver Coins, Silver Bullion, and junk silver. Junk silver is an old retired currency minted with silver inside the coins themselves. These coins are usually sold in lots based on value such as $100 in quarters.
Different years of “junk silver” coins have differing amounts of silver in them so you need to watch that you are in fact getting the proper years of coins for the amount of silver that is inside them. While they do contain real silver from minting they are blended with other metals and aren’t “100% pure”, this has led them to receive the name “junk silver”.
You can also buy pure silver coins, called Silver Rounds that are 99.9% pure silver from most suppliers and mints. They are all stamped and certified pure by the minting agency. Having access to and adding some Silver Rounds to your collection is excellent because they come in specific weights such as 1oz and there is an abundance of different designs to choose from for a collection or gift.
The Cheapest option for buying silver per ounce is to buy bullion bars. The markup above the spot price tends to be the lowest out of the three options available and you get the bonus of having 99.9% pure silver and many weight ranges. You can buy one ounce or 100+ ounces at a time from reputable suppliers like SDbullion.com.
Take a deeper look into What Physical Silver Is The Cheapest.
Price Ranges Of Physical Silver
There is a very wide range of prices for silver based on the spot price, design, weight, and scarcity. The cheaper way to buy silver is volume and bars. You can get a lower price above the spot when you buy larger boxes or packages or when you buy generic silver bars.
Coins tend to be the most expensive but have a wider market with collectors wanting the coins rather than just the metal itself. Coins also have a higher price per ounce because they take a great deal of time to design and create different coins every year. Also because coins are usually minted with lower weights the minting process takes longer and has more costs involved.
How To Buy Physical Silver
Buying silver couldn’t be easier these days. You can buy silver from very reputable sites like Moneymetals.com or bgasc.com. (Buy gold and silver coins) Buying coins or bars online is the easiest and most convenient way to add physical silver to your portfolio and can be shipped right to your home.
You can also go to a local pawn shop and find coins that may be worth adding to a collection. If you don’t have a pawn shop close by some Banks will also sell you bullion and coins over the counter.
Another option is to buy directly from the Mint such as The Royal Canadian Mint (Canadian Coins, Gold, Silver & More | The Royal Canadian Mint) or The US Mint (US Mint Catalog – Silver and Gold Coins, Numismatic Supplies and Gifts) but they usually have higher prices than some other vendors such as bgasc.com
Be sure to shop around and find the cheapest silver available from places such as Moneymetals.com!
Shop Weekly Deals At BGASCETF or Exchange Traded Notes
While physical silver is a great option, it can be a little less liquid than some other options and you need to store it safe from theft or damage.
Silver ETFs are another available investment that provides you with a few different options. Some ETFs give you exposure through actual stores of silver while others are silver mining companies and a few use derivatives.
ETFs can be traded through your brokerage and can usually be purchased through any investment portfolio setup such as an IRA or TFSA. The downside to an ETF is that they charge an expense ratio for running the fund which can vary depending on the issuer.
Lower expense ratios are preferred because it is a cost that takes away from total returns.
Of the 10 silver ETFs shown, the biggest silver ETF is iShares Silver Trust SLV with a total asset value of $11.3 Billion.
| Ticker | Name | Assets | Expense Ratio | Exposure |
| SLV | iShares Silver Trust | $11.3B | 0.5% | Commodities: Silver |
| SIVR | abrdn Physical Silver Shares ETF | $1.11B | 0.3% | Commodities: Silver |
| SIL | Global X Silver Miners ETF | $1.05B | 0.65% | Equity: Miners |
| SILJ | ETFMG Prime Junior Silver Miners ETF | $766.96M | 0.69% | Equity: Miners |
| AGQ | ProShares Ultra Silver | $390.94M | 1.5% | Leveraged Commodities: Silver |
| SLVP | iShares MSCI Global Silver And Metals Miners ETF | $211.46M | 0.39% | Equity: Miners |
| SLVO | Credit Suisse X-Links Silver Shares Covered Call ETN | $148.79M | 0.65% | Commodities: Silver |
| DBS | Invesco DB Silver Fund | $51.72M | 0.77% | Commodities: Silver |
| SILX | ETFMG Prime 2x Daily Junior Silver Miners ETF | $4.079M | 0.95% | Leveraged Equity: Miners |
*Jan 23 2023 *ycharts.com *ETF.com
Options
Options are contracts that allow you to buy stocks at a certain price for a given period of time. You can buy or sell options on stocks you own usually in blocks of 100 shares. Buying and selling options should be taken very seriously because you can potentially expose yourself to more risk.
Buying options on a stock/ETF gives you the ability to take advantage of price movements on the underlying stock while limiting the potential amount of money you can lose (for a period of time). For example, when you buy a stock (going long) you get the advantage of price movements up and the disadvantage of they go down.
If you are long stock (you own it) the stock “could” go to $0 and you would lose everything that you have invested.
If you buy a Call option on that stock, you pay a premium for the RIGHT to buy (you don’t HAVE to buy it) the stock at a determined price up until a specified date. If the price of the stock goes up you can exercise the option and buy the stock at a lower price or sell the option for a higher price than you paid.
The downside is that if your option expires (goes past the contract date) without the stock going in the desired direction you lose the entire premium you paid for the contract.
Buying and selling options is an advanced investment technique and should be used very carefully.
Or here is a few strategies to make 10% or more from your money!
Potential Long-Term Advantage Of Silver Options
One way to lower the risk of losing your premium is by using contracts called LEAPS. (Long-term Equity Anticipation Securities) LEAPS are long-term option contracts that can have an expiration date of potentially 2 years into the future.
This lowers the risk of you losing your premium by allowing more time for the equity or ETF to move in the desired direction.
Another advantage of using leaps and options is that option pricing will usually end up costing less than buying the equity outright.
For example, one Call contract gives the right to buy 100 shares of the underlying asset (stock or ETF). SLV is trading at $18.05 per share ATM (Sept.22.22). So you will need to spend $1,805 to buy 100 shares OR You could buy 1 $19 call contract for $430 with an expiry date of Jan 17, 2025. (2 years, 119 days)
This contract will give you the right to buy 100 shares of SLV for $19 over the next 2 years and 119 days. If SLV goes up in value you can take advantage of the price movement for a fraction of the initial cost.
But if after 2 years and 119 days, SLV is worth less than $19/share your LEAP will expire worthless and you will lose the $430 you paid in the beginning. You can also sell your contract BEFORE it expires and recover as much of your premium as possible.
Individual Silver Mining Companies
Having an investment that is very liquid and you can sell just in case the value starts to go down is a wonderful feature of buying individual stocks. In this case, we’re talking about mining companies. A downside to buying individual companies’ vrs ETFs is that individual companies can be more volatile in stock price movements.
Mining companies go public and sell shares to raise capital to further develop mining sites. Their revenue is based on how many ounces of silver they mine and who can do it the most efficiently.
You can start investing in mining companies of all different sizes who mine all over the world for silver.
A few of the biggest silver miners as of 2020 are:
- Fresnillo: Mined 53.1Moz
- KGHM: Mined 43.4 Moz
- Glencore: Mined 32.8 Moz
- Newmont: 27.8 Moz
Antiques (And Scrap Bullion)
A fun way to get some extra silver for potentially really good prices is by looking around for antiques and scrap silver in your local area. There are usually auctions that you can go to and get some really good deals.
You can go to yard sales and look on local sell sites like craigslist and Kijiji. Take a little bit of time and look for some great deals on silver plates and cutlery or old coins.
This can become a great hobby and add to your collection of physical silver over time.
There are a whole bunch of different places you can search and find great quality silver. You can go to auctions, yard sales, and online sites like eBay, craigslist, or Kijiji. One of the biggest challenges with going finding and buying antiques is making sure you get high-quality pieces. This will take a lot of research and you will need to devote time not just to finding silver but to knowing what pieces should be worth.
Conclusion
There are many different ways to invest in silver. Buying physical silver is a great way to start and you have a tangible piece you can hold and inspect. Get the Cheapest silver and the most value by comparing silver prices.
If you have a brokerage account you can get immediate exposure and have a very liquid investment with ETFs or mining companies. Whichever choice fits into your investment strategy will surely have opportunities to make money.
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