CTMPR

With the sharp rise in gold and silver this year there have been a lot of people asking about the best silver etf. The best silver etf can mean several different things:

In my opinion, if you are looking for a fund that tracks the price of silver with no leverage the best silver etf is SIVR. That’s because the company behind it ETF Securities LTD has gone out of it’s way to prove that there is physical silver backing the etf. It’s not the most actively traded however, SLV is currently averaging over 25 million shares per day versus 450,000 per day for SIVR.

If you are looking for the “Best Performing” silver etf in the current rally then you would have to take a look at AGQ which is the double long silver etf. It is up over 130% since the rally began in August. This does not mean it’s always the best way to play silver however. For long term investors Leveraged ETFs are the worst assets to hold and you are usually better of in mining stocks.

If you are looking for the best silver mining etf, then I would take a look at SIL. It’s the Global X Silver Miners and it has been a stellar performer in the latest bull move as well. It’s a who’s who of the international silver mining community, with all the major companies accounted for in a single ETF.

So as you can see, the best silver etf really depends upon what you are looking for…. whether it be backed by physical silver, the most performance possible or the best silver miners.

It’s not everyday you see the mayor of Williston ND interviewed on CNBC. In fact, I’m sure it’s never happened before but times are changing. Williston has gone through boom periods before like in the late 70’s when we had the first run up in oil prices. For most of the 80s and 90s the boom was just a fading memory. Williston, Dickinson and other towns that were overbuilt during the 70s oil boom looked like ghost towns. Now that Oil is sustaining above $75 and horizontal drilling has made the Bakken Wells highly productive, this boom may last!

The big problem they were pointing out on CNBC is the lack of housing in the area. At a time when there is a housing glut in most of the country, there is a critical shortage in western North Dakota. Jobs are so plentiful that most people find a job within hours of arriving, but there is no place to live. This past summer there were tent cities all over out there, but now with temperatures in the single digits at night that’s not a very feasible option.

Banks and builders have been reluctant to build too much housing because of memories of the past busts in oil country. It’s a shame there are jobs going unfilled because there is no place to live.

Here is the video:

The most widely held gold etf – GLD has made a double top and then closed at the lows of the session. It’s rather doubtful this will be the ultimate high in the yellow metal but the relative strength indicator has been showing deterioration on the last two rallies. This is often a sign that the trend is running out of steam.

Silver represented here by the Silver ETF – SIVR has been stronger than gold but also met a similar fate today. The Short Silver ETF (ZSL) which has been absolutely pummeled since the 3rd week of August closed up 9.1% as all the Silver ETFs made massive “Outside Day” reversals after making new highs. It should lead to at least a moderate correction and possibly a test of the 50 day moving average.