Silver as an asset for investment diversification

[STT]

Silver is an interesting metal, it was challenged by the decline of photography apparently.  However I believe its regained that lost demand in newer industry products and more but I cannot be sure of that exactly.

I found that Russia does hold silver as a monetary metal and the last funding figure was half a billion, quite small for the largest country in the world to use.
   My other thought is unofficial usage by China of silver as money, I believe they promote the idea to citizens but banks avoid silver as being far less compact then gold its not preferred post 1971.

Its notable that copper was being used a currency proxy in China in its boom years before the practise was banned.  That's interesting as copper was a monetary metal thousands of years ago, now its occurring naturally.  We are apparently living in times similar to the late Roman empire when any 'precious' metal even copper became useful to citizens.

[Hispo]

I am not a financial advisor, but it would seem to be Silver is undervalued ans for some reason investors do not give it as much importance as gold or even Bitcoin.
It now good for diversifying one's portfolio, but one needs to be careful on how much of one's value would be invested on silver, as it is not such a safe bet as gold is.
Silver is easier to get, to process and it is also very popular among people who wish to invest in metals but their entry capital is low. Big money and smart money prefer to stay with Gold and now they are moving to the next level of store of value and get into Bitcoin.

[lornadane]

Ngl, silver isn’t a magic shield. Industrial demand, mining output, and macro factors can hit prices hard. If you diversify with silver, treat it like part of a balanced risk portfolio, not a guaranteed safe haven.

[gibrab16]

Pros first:

Silver is cheap to enter compared to gold, so it’s accessible.

It has dual demand: monetary hedge + industrial use (solar, electronics, EVs), which gold doesn’t have to the same extent.

Historically, silver tends to lag gold and then overperform later in cycles, so if gold runs, silver often follows harder.

Cons:

It’s volatile and can stay undervalued longer than expected.

Physical silver has storage and liquidity issues (unless you go with ETFs or tokenized versions, which add counterparty risk).

It’s not a perfect inflation hedge short term.

[lornadane]

Silver as diversification makes sense imo, especially if you’re sitting heavy in stablecoins. It’s more volatile than gold but that’s also where upside comes from. Industrial demand (solar, electronics) gives it some real utility too. I wouldn’t go all-in, but as a hedge against dollar bleed, a small allocation feels reasonable. Just don’t expect it to move like BTC.

[Pi-network314159]

The question is: what do you think?
I'm interested in your assessment of both the idea itself and the idea of silver.

PS: as a last resort, cast bullets and shoot the evil spirits

All what is will say is that anyone who is capable of making also is capable of making decisions including the one that favor him or not.  Silver is not bad anyway if you chose to buy and stack provided you are fine with it. You have your money and should know what Best for you to do with it. The problem is that will silver adoption increase in due time? Because what matters is how people will adap adopt silver. Because when there is massive demand of anything it becomes scars and the price skyrockets. So if there is no massive adoption in silver then it means it is a waste of time and resources.

[devlin85]

I think silver is fine as a diversification play, but it is not an instant shield against inflation and it does not behave like crypto, it has real demand from industrial and technological uses, which helps in the long run, and it is more accessible compared to gold.

[DrBeer]

Silver is an interesting metal, it was challenged by the decline of photography apparently.  However I believe its regained that lost demand in newer industry products and more but I cannot be sure of that exactly.

I found that Russia does hold silver as a monetary metal and the last funding figure was half a billion, quite small for the largest country in the world to use.
   My other thought is unofficial usage by China of silver as money, I believe they promote the idea to citizens but banks avoid silver as being far less compact then gold its not preferred post 1971.

Its notable that copper was being used a currency proxy in China in its boom years before the practise was banned.  That's interesting as copper was a monetary metal thousands of years ago, now its occurring naturally.  We are apparently living in times similar to the late Roman empire when any 'precious' metal even copper became useful to citizens.

Today, photography has been replaced by solar panels, electric cars, and electronics
Silver has many attractive properties for industry and is still affordable for mass use. In addition, silver is in demand in other areas as well. Statistics show that its demand is distributed approximately as follows:

Industry (including solar panels): ~50-55%.
Jewelry: ~20-25%.
Investments: ~10-15%.
Other (photography, silverware): ~10-15%.
 In other words, the potential is quite good.
 

[Jateng]

I think silver is fine as a diversification play, but it is not an instant shield against inflation and it does not behave like crypto, it has real demand from industrial and technological uses, which helps in the long run, and it is more accessible compared to gold.

No doubt that silver is gaining attention and its price is rising. This shows that people are starting to trust silver more. In simple words, the value of silver is increasing. It is because gold is becoming expensive for the people. However if you are thinking about investing in silver or keeping it as an asset, you should know that it may not be very helpful. Even though silver is currently strong in value it cannot fully protect you in emergencies or significantly improve your assets. It is easily accessible but reselling is still difficult.

[Emitdama]

Today, photography has been replaced by solar panels, electric cars, and electronics
Silver has many attractive properties for industry and is still affordable for mass use. In addition, silver is in demand in other areas as well. Statistics show that its demand is distributed approximately as follows:

Industry (including solar panels): ~50-55%.
Jewelry: ~20-25%.
Investments: ~10-15%.
Other (photography, silverware): ~10-15%.
 In other words, the potential is quite good.

That is the difference between silver and many of the other materials, it's getting used a lot. Gold for example is mainly used for either investment or jewellery that's it, do we use it in tech a bit? Sure, but not a lot and wouldn't have made it so high. Whereas, silver is used in industry like crazy, and it's being used to build stuff all the time and that is why it will always be in demand, not just for an investment as asset but for building something as well.

I like it as an investment because I know that there will always be a demand for it and that is why I have some saved aside. To be fair, I do not actually "have" silver, I have a bank account for investment, and there I can buy crypto, stocks, gold, silver, many things basically, including even a barrel of oil I think? Never tried that so not sure what it is but saw oil there as option.

[Dogedegen]

Today, photography has been replaced by solar panels, electric cars, and electronics
Silver has many attractive properties for industry and is still affordable for mass use. In addition, silver is in demand in other areas as well. Statistics show that its demand is distributed approximately as follows:

Industry (including solar panels): ~50-55%.
Jewelry: ~20-25%.
Investments: ~10-15%.
Other (photography, silverware): ~10-15%.
 In other words, the potential is quite good.

Yes, but if the price continues to go up for some reasons this will encourage the market to find replacements. A lot of things are used in ways that are not necessarily needed, but because it was a cheap solution that worked well at the time. No need to replace something that works good. But as prices increase, there may be pressure to look for changes. I think the jewelry demand will stay though, if people can't afford gold they will go for silver. Some don't like gold anyway even if they can afford it so they decide to buy some silver instead. Many other metals are not easy to work with and not appropriate for jewelry, or they are too expensive.

That is the difference between silver and many of the other materials, it's getting used a lot. Gold for example is mainly used for either investment or jewellery that's it, do we use it in tech a bit? Sure, but not a lot and wouldn't have made it so high. Whereas, silver is used in industry like crazy, and it's being used to build stuff all the time and that is why it will always be in demand, not just for an investment as asset but for building something as well.

What do you mean other materials? Many metals especially rare metals are used in so many things. Very few metals are not actively used a lot in many things, I think you have things confused. Check it out. It is just that silver can be used in jewelry and in a nice form at home that it has more attraction to the average person and the price is low, not because other metals are not used. Stuff like osmium or thorium is widely used but you won't find it in anyone's home. Platinum is widely used but you won't find it in homes, the coin market is smaller compared to gold and silver for holding. Some are much harder to work with and also high priced that is why, like iridium. Because of this it would be incorrect to conclude that it is because of usage. I think that some like platinum and palladium are actually even more widely used than silver, but most people don't know these things.

I like it as an investment because I know that there will always be a demand for it and that is why I have some saved aside. To be fair, I do not actually "have" silver, I have a bank account for investment, and there I can buy crypto, stocks, gold, silver, many things basically, including even a barrel of oil I think? Never tried that so not sure what it is but saw oil there as option.

You can trade any commodity, you don't need to physically own it. But this kind of behavior is not really compatible with someone who understands Bitcoin. In most cases you are trading paper assets, and enriching the big corporations and institutions hat are cheating the system. Let's not encourage too much of owning paper assets of any kind, it is better to self custody everything wherever possible.

[Zaguru12]

I think silver is fine as a diversification play, but it is not an instant shield against inflation and it does not behave like crypto, it has real demand from industrial and technological uses, which helps in the long run, and it is more accessible compared to gold.

For me the criteria for diversification is simply to go away from an asset which is tied to each other because a change in market will affect both assets and looking at this means that there is no diversification there. Example is those who invest into bitcoin and then simply buy Altcoins thinking it’s a means for diversification, once bitcoin falls all of these assets too falls and that’s not diversification.

But looking at Silver they might have some similar market factors with bitcoin but definitely not dependent of the other for any asset talk more been tired to it and on this ground i actually recommend silver as secondary asset for diversification

[yudi09]

The question is: what do you think?
I'm interested in your assessment of both the idea itself and the idea of silver.

Making silver an asset diversification is not a bad thing, even though silver has not received as much attention as gold in protecting against inflation. Gold is still the priority for investors as a hedge against inflation, outside of the discussion of Bitcoin.
To get an exact percentage of how much investors put their money into silver, I don't know, but I believe that investors are more likely to put their money into Bitcoin, gold, and real estate. Personally, I also prefer these three types of assets over silver. I am also not interested in silver, not because of its market value.

[Oluwa-btc]

The question is: what do you think?
I'm interested in your assessment of both the idea itself and the idea of silver.

Silver is a good asset to diversify for investment but how long would it take to meet up with the rate of demands from other assets like Gold, Bitcoin and the rest of them. I feel a little more of attention should be drawn towards silver inorder to observe it's benefits tha way it could gain more percentage of usage. We rarely find individuals invest on silver cause it's being there though but seems less attractive to investors but in a brighter thought if there be a shift it might experience some potential growth with time.

[Dogedegen]

For me the criteria for diversification is simply to go away from an asset which is tied to each other because a change in market will affect both assets and looking at this means that there is no diversification there. Example is those who invest into bitcoin and then simply buy Altcoins thinking it’s a means for diversification, once bitcoin falls all of these assets too falls and that’s not diversification.

But looking at Silver they might have some similar market factors with bitcoin but definitely not dependent of the other for any asset talk more been tired to it and on this ground i actually recommend silver as secondary asset for diversification

In this sense you are right. For someone who has gold, silver is not really a diversification of anything. Silver could be a true diversification for people who have stocks or other assets but do not have gold. Overall though there is no real harm in mixing it up a little bit, so even though you have some metals in this case gold you don't need to have 100% in gold. This is technically also a within category diversification, even if gold and silver prices tend to be correlated most of the time. The reason to do this is because the future is unpredictable and something extreme could happen with any metal even if it is not that likely. By doing the diversification that way, you are hedging against something going wrong.

I don't like the comparison to Bitcoin and altcoins in substance, it only works in similarity of movements. Pretty much every altcoin is junk, and altcoins are not silver if Bitcoin is gold. Altcoins are the trash that you find in a junkyard while Bitcoin is gold. But still you can see my argument even there. Even if most altcoins have under performed especially compared to Bitcoin, there may be times where one of them performs good compared to the others for any number of reasons. So even a diversification within the altcoin category itself may yield some benefits and can be a hedge against the downfall of the one that you invested it. There are simply many different ways to do diversification and even many more hedging strategies.

[DrBeer]

The question is: what do you think?
I'm interested in your assessment of both the idea itself and the idea of silver.

PS: as a last resort, cast bullets and shoot the evil spirits

All what is will say is that anyone who is capable of making also is capable of making decisions including the one that favor him or not.  Silver is not bad anyway if you chose to buy and stack provided you are fine with it. You have your money and should know what Best for you to do with it. The problem is that will silver adoption increase in due time? Because what matters is how people will adap adopt silver. Because when there is massive demand of anything it becomes scars and the price skyrockets. So if there is no massive adoption in silver then it means it is a waste of time and resources.

At the moment, there is a medium-term forecast for growth in demand for silver, which is explained by real-world and economic demand: the production of electronics, solar panels, and other areas where silver effectively demonstrates its chemical and physical properties, provided that alternatives are more expensive. The latter statement also suggests that a very sharp rise in prices could reduce the consumption of silver for mass consumption due to its significant impact on the cost of the finished product.

[Cgrexp]

The price of gold does not increase as fast as silver, but it has maintained its value and has been increasing for a long time. However, most people prefer to invest in gold or Bitcoin over silver. I think that silver is less efficient in terms of investment, but everyone's perspective is different. Investing a small amount in Bitcoin can be a good option. However, the ability to continue investing depends on the person.

[aysha9853]

Silver is affordable, that’s its main advantage, but it comes with storage and liquidity issues if you go physical paper silver is easier but adds counterparty risk. I see it more as diversification than protection

[Inwestour]

All what is will say is that anyone who is capable of making also is capable of making decisions including the one that favor him or not.  Silver is not bad anyway if you chose to buy and stack provided you are fine with it. You have your money and should know what Best for you to do with it. The problem is that will silver adoption increase in due time? Because what matters is how people will adap adopt silver. Because when there is massive demand of anything it becomes scars and the price skyrockets. So if there is no massive adoption in silver then it means it is a waste of time and resources.

Silver is widely used in industry, so its range of applications is quite broad. However, I think it is not the most popular asset among investors, which also implies the need to store physical silver, and that is not very convenient. Moreover, buying it now, when the price has reached its high, is not the best timing. Still, if this is a long term investment, I believe that in the long run it can bring profit.

[Unknown Op]

All what is will say is that anyone who is capable of making also is capable of making decisions including the one that favor him or not.  Silver is not bad anyway if you chose to buy and stack provided you are fine with it. You have your money and should know what Best for you to do with it. The problem is that will silver adoption increase in due time? Because what matters is how people will adap adopt silver. Because when there is massive demand of anything it becomes scars and the price skyrockets. So if there is no massive adoption in silver then it means it is a waste of time and resources.

Silver is widely used in industry, so its range of applications is quite broad. However, I think it is not the most popular asset among investors, which also implies the need to store physical silver, and that is not very convenient. Moreover, buying it now, when the price has reached its high, is not the best timing. Still, if this is a long term investment, I believe that in the long run it can bring profit.

Silver price is good in the market because there are many investors who want to invest more And more money in that and they are good to learn the market.  My friend met me few days ago and he talked to invest in silver because he has knowledge and he is watching the market. Many people are doing well in online earning and they are doing trades and they are Investing in gold as gold is good for the person who want to be rich fast but they are ready to lose more and more money in that.  Many investors have different background and they have different capability. Palladium is not good to invest because that is very risky for the beginner and person could lose money. So rich people can afford that but poor people can not afford that .