In global financial markets, quietly, silver has become the hot precious metal. Currently, silver is trading at around $59 per ounce, a price appreciation of around 80% since the beginning of the year. 

In the last 50 years, the price of silver has spiked three times. In the early 1980s, the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the market for silver. That speculation failed, and the price of silver went down as fast as it went up. Later in 2011, when rating agencies downgraded the sovereign debt of the United States because of the large federal deficit, the price of silver soared yet again. Investors and traders saw silver, like gold, as a safe-haven asset. But just like the early 1980s, the price of silver then dropped precipitously. Today, silver is again moving sharply higher. This time, however, it appears that the price appreciation of this precious metal has some fundamental weight behind it.