Money Speculation-Trade in Gold and Silver ETFs.

Gold Vs. Silver Trading.

Gold Shines but Silver makes Money.

The short answer is uncertainty.

 Uncertainty about European debt problems.

 Uncertainty about the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations and the health of the U.S. economy.

Uncertainty about the health of European banks and even U.S. banks.

Uncertainty about how serious China is about reining inflation.

But there's an additional very good reason silver moved 3.3%, to $40.34, while gold was up only 0.9% to $1,720. 

You can get a lot more silver for $1,720 -- nearly 40 1-ounce silver bars.

That's why silver has been much more volatile in the past few years and the volume in silver trading has exploded and silver is likely to remain volatile for some time. 



And because silver is so much cheaper than gold -- at least on a nominal basis -- you could make a lot more money on silver than on gold. 

Between the end of 1999 and 2008, gold jumped from about $290 an ounce to $884, a gain of some 245%. Silver moved from $5.41 an ounce to $11.27, a gain of 145%. Gold clearly was the better buy. Since the end of 2008 to now, gold is up 81%; silver is up nearly 120%.

So far in 2011, gold is up 12.7%, but silver is up 30.4%. So for the present, with talk about Greek debt default and its effect on other members of the European Union and the debt ceiling, gold is up 6.6%; silver if 15.8%. 

If margin requirements for silver had not been boosted substantially, silver would be up a lot more.                          

This is because the silver ETF was up 56.6% for the year on April 28.                                                                                   After the margin requirement took effect, the silver ETf fell back to as low as $33.                                                     The ETF's return fell to as little as 9%. It's back up to 31%.