The iShares Silver ETF Was Launched Today

The first silver-based ETF was launched today by Barclays Global Investors. The name of the ETF is the iShares Silver Trust and its ticker symbol is SLV. Each share of SLV will initially represent 10 ounces of silver and opened at $129/share on the AMEX today. For almost all investors, SLV provides the cheapest means of buying and selling silver.

TheStreet.Com article about SLV

The Silver Market Is In A Free-Fall Today

I just checked the price of silver and was shocked to see that it fell over 14% today, from $14.53 per ounce all the way down to $12.41 per ounce. Presumably, speculators are locking in gains from silver's YTD 63% gain as of yesterday. I don't know what will happen to silver in the short-term, but it would not surprise me to see its ascent continue later in 2006. The silver market kind of reminds me of the Nasdaq in the late 90s when the Nasdaq Composite Index experienced tremendous volatility and shot up in value to levels that could not be justified by the underlying fundamentals.