In 1980 there was no way to own silver except by owning coins, bars or jewelry. That is called owning the physicals. Today there are 3 new ETF’s where institutions and individuals can own the silver by buying the stock. When the stock is sold to the public the ETF has to buy 10 ounces of silver such as in the case of SLV. This new demand has created a demand of 200 million ounces last year which is now the largest purchaser of silver in the world. This is inventory owned by individuals to make money. They will not sell until they make more money and that is usually to another investor who hangs on to the shares of stock.
While there has been a broad awakening as to the merits of commodity investments into the Commodity ETF’s, silver is the only industrial commodity, which allows both the smallest and the largest investor alike to buy directly in its real form. You can’t do that practically with any other consumable commodity unless you trade commodities. In today’s environment there are a lot of risky investments due to the financial crisis that hit us therefore the gold and silver ETF’s are the future of the new common denominator of risk free currency and store of value investing. As the price continues to rise the investment into ETF”s for gold and silver will increase thus causing more of a shortage.