Bad Medicine
New Member
This isn't anything earth shattering, I'm just new to the forum and felt like tossing in my 2 cents. 
On another thread someone was talking about "getting in" on silver at the right price, timing to sell at the high, etc, and I had a thought on it that I'm sure others here have had as well since people here are silver stackers, and that thought is ... does it really matter that much what the price is if you are stacking ?
By way of example, the currency in my country is USD, and the currency of most of the people here (it seems) is AUD. For someone who is talking about buying and selling silver, they're probably talking about buying and selling it in AUD, but isn't that all just a matter of perspective ?
What I mean is that most of the people where I am would feel very uneasy about having a pile of AUD, most have never even physically held an AUD note before, it would look like play money to them, just paper with pretty pictures on it and the colors are very unfamiliar, as is the little clear window in the note - I know because I do actually have a few AUD physical notes, but that's the only reason I know what they look like. Most people who deal in USD in their daily lives would not want to save money in AUD, they would worry about it all the time, what if Australia sinks into the ocean ? What if the economy changes and Australian dollars aren't worth as much when it is time to sell them ? What if the market breaks and you get stuck with AUD and can never get USD again ? Etc.
But to someone in AUD, it's probably just the opposite, spending their precious AUD to get a pile of USD is probably going to make them worry, was it a good decision to buy USD, what if the USD goes down ? What if the U.S. economy goes horribly wrong and USD isn't worth anything tomorrow ? What if, what if, what if ?
I think for new silver stackers holding silver is much the same, they aren't accustomed to thinking in terms of silver being an actual currency, it's like a foreign currency they want to trade to "make money" (meaning increase their AUD or USD holdings), but it isn't something they think in terms of it being a currency on its own.
But out of AUD, USD, and silver ... isn't silver the more universal currency, with intrinsic value, the only one of the three that isn't just a piece of paper with some pretty pictures inked on it ?
It seems like an objective person, one that was not thinking in terms of the currency they are most familiar with through an accident of birth might see silver as the better currency, and feel somewhat uneasy holding paper.
Someone transported through time from a thousand years ago would probably have a much easier time choosing between silver, USD, and AUD, to the point of having a belly laugh at the prospect of holding a stack of paper notes, or worse, electronic digits, instead of silver.
So back to the original thought ... does it really matter that much what the price is or where its going ? People imagine that their home currencies are stable, Australians probably think that about the AUD, and people in the U.S. certainly believe that about the USD, but AUD and USD change price dramatically against one another in relatively short periods of time in the forex markets, neither one is stable against the other. So does it really matter that much if you're holding AUD, or USD ? or silver ? It just seems like it really shouldn't be some kind of anxiety producing trade to make, because even if you don't "buy" anything, just holding your home currency IS A LONG POSITION. If you buy NOTHING, you are long your countries currency, for better or worse, you are fully invested in that currency and nothing else and at the mercy of the forex markets. Shouldn't THAT be the most frightening position to be in ?
Is it rational to feel "safe" in paper, safe to the point that you don't even pay attention to how it trades against other currencies and commodities when you're holding it, and yet feel "anxious" in silver, and start paying close attention to every little price move ? Why do people who wouldn't pay the least bit of attention to forex markets when they are holding a stack of their home countries currency suddenly feel the need to day trade when their holding a foreign country's currency (or silver) ?
Isn't the decision about which currency (or silver) to be long all in people's heads ?
On another thread someone was talking about "getting in" on silver at the right price, timing to sell at the high, etc, and I had a thought on it that I'm sure others here have had as well since people here are silver stackers, and that thought is ... does it really matter that much what the price is if you are stacking ?
By way of example, the currency in my country is USD, and the currency of most of the people here (it seems) is AUD. For someone who is talking about buying and selling silver, they're probably talking about buying and selling it in AUD, but isn't that all just a matter of perspective ?
What I mean is that most of the people where I am would feel very uneasy about having a pile of AUD, most have never even physically held an AUD note before, it would look like play money to them, just paper with pretty pictures on it and the colors are very unfamiliar, as is the little clear window in the note - I know because I do actually have a few AUD physical notes, but that's the only reason I know what they look like. Most people who deal in USD in their daily lives would not want to save money in AUD, they would worry about it all the time, what if Australia sinks into the ocean ? What if the economy changes and Australian dollars aren't worth as much when it is time to sell them ? What if the market breaks and you get stuck with AUD and can never get USD again ? Etc.
But to someone in AUD, it's probably just the opposite, spending their precious AUD to get a pile of USD is probably going to make them worry, was it a good decision to buy USD, what if the USD goes down ? What if the U.S. economy goes horribly wrong and USD isn't worth anything tomorrow ? What if, what if, what if ?
I think for new silver stackers holding silver is much the same, they aren't accustomed to thinking in terms of silver being an actual currency, it's like a foreign currency they want to trade to "make money" (meaning increase their AUD or USD holdings), but it isn't something they think in terms of it being a currency on its own.
But out of AUD, USD, and silver ... isn't silver the more universal currency, with intrinsic value, the only one of the three that isn't just a piece of paper with some pretty pictures inked on it ?
It seems like an objective person, one that was not thinking in terms of the currency they are most familiar with through an accident of birth might see silver as the better currency, and feel somewhat uneasy holding paper.
Someone transported through time from a thousand years ago would probably have a much easier time choosing between silver, USD, and AUD, to the point of having a belly laugh at the prospect of holding a stack of paper notes, or worse, electronic digits, instead of silver.
So back to the original thought ... does it really matter that much what the price is or where its going ? People imagine that their home currencies are stable, Australians probably think that about the AUD, and people in the U.S. certainly believe that about the USD, but AUD and USD change price dramatically against one another in relatively short periods of time in the forex markets, neither one is stable against the other. So does it really matter that much if you're holding AUD, or USD ? or silver ? It just seems like it really shouldn't be some kind of anxiety producing trade to make, because even if you don't "buy" anything, just holding your home currency IS A LONG POSITION. If you buy NOTHING, you are long your countries currency, for better or worse, you are fully invested in that currency and nothing else and at the mercy of the forex markets. Shouldn't THAT be the most frightening position to be in ?
Is it rational to feel "safe" in paper, safe to the point that you don't even pay attention to how it trades against other currencies and commodities when you're holding it, and yet feel "anxious" in silver, and start paying close attention to every little price move ? Why do people who wouldn't pay the least bit of attention to forex markets when they are holding a stack of their home countries currency suddenly feel the need to day trade when their holding a foreign country's currency (or silver) ?
Isn't the decision about which currency (or silver) to be long all in people's heads ?
