CFP said:
Cheepo, I would like to know how you drew the conclusion you did so I can analyse it and work out whether to take it seriously.
SilverPete already basically answered the question. Let me see some of the points, in no particular order:
- the price of silver has been dropping over the decades/centuries.
- the price was stable at 4-6$ oz for over 20 years until the bubble that started in 2008. This was obviously the
market price, and what followed was a bubble.
- EVERY bubble bursts, and the price will drop.
- There is NOTHING in the world economy that warrants a price that is 10 times the market price (the top price in 2011).
- There is NOTHING in the world economy that warrants a price that is 3 times the market price (15$/oz), so predicting that the price will drop to 15$/oz is really not much more difficult than saying "tomorrow morning the sun will rise".
- The cost of producing silver as a byproduct is basically the bottom price of silver, and is is very low (how low I don't know but I am curious, if anybody knows please post it). I am amazed how so many people still talk about how silver cannot be profitably extracted if the price goes below.... (a value they pluck off the clouds) and therefore that's the bottom price.
- Industrial demand hasn't really increased much. I believe it's still what it was when a lot of silver was used for films. Now it's used for solar panels and electronics, but the demand hasn't really increased, and it's pretty easy to recycle (though I forgot the exact numbers, so I expect many people, starting with Pirocco, challenging me here. I might as well we wrong with this point!)
- As the price drops, there is less demand from stackers (see the gloom mood here), and stackers make up 1/2 the buyers of physical silver.
- There is no inflation, so no point in buying a dead metal that doesn't generate any income
- Expect inflation, which means the governments will raise interest rates, which means more payments on your mortgage. People will sell their non-performing PM and pay off their mortgage debts. Every rational human being would do that. People buy PM to protect themselves against inflation, but then governments raise interest rates to fight inflation, and people sell PM to pay off their debts, or invest in interest-bearing stuff.
- Silver was once currency. It no longer is for a few decades. As the old folks who experienced it as currency die out, will young people see silver as a PM worth stacking? If not, you will have a drop in interest, though over decades, not years.
Having said this, the future is uncertain.
If you look at the price movements since 2000: Everything that happened since the collapse of Lehman brothers (Sept. 2008) can be considered a bubble. However, silver was above 10$ since January 2006. So we could assume that $10 is the new bottom. I think anything between 10 and 15 is not a bad buy, but I am quite sure it will go well below 15. Since the market always exaggerates, it will probably go below 10 for a short time. The long term equilibrium (over the next 10 years) should be between 10 and 13. Don't forget that at these levels a 1$ movement looks huge, while when the price was 30/oz a 1$ movement was nothing.
That's all. No magic ball, and no need to take it seriously if you don't want to. I see it just as a bit of common sense, and don't believe the hype of zerohedge and friends.