In a June 4 Seeking Alpha article on silver and the Amplify Junior Silver Miners ETF (SILJ), I concluded:
I remain bullish on silver, which was around $30 in early June 2024. Buying during the current correction could be the optimal approach.
Nearby July COMEX silver futures were at the $29.685 per ounce level on June 4 and were virtually unchanged at the $29.615 level on June 24 as the precious metal continues to digest the recent move to the highest price (XAGUSD:CUR) in over a decade since December 2012.
Silver rises to a new multi-year high and corrects
Silver prices have made higher lows and higher highs after falling to the lowest price since January 2009 in March 2020, just as the global pandemic gripped markets across all asset classes.
The twenty-year chart highlights the bullish pattern that has developed over the past four years. Nearby futures rose to a $32.50 high in May 2024, the highest price in almost a dozen years, before correcting below $30 per ounce.
Consolidation could build a base for even higher prices
The shorter-term three-month July silver futures trend shows that $30 has become a pivot point as the price consolidates around the level it rose above the $30.16 technical resistance.
As the chart illustrates, silver futures have traded on either side of the $30 pivot point since early June, with a low of just under $28.75 and a high of over $31.50 per ounce.
Even the most aggressive bull markets rarely move in straight lines; historically, silver is no exception. The correction could be building a base from which it moves to higher highs if the trend since March 2020 remains intact.
The case for silver-Rising industrial demand and the potential for soaring investment demand
In the June 4 article, I highlighted the supply demand deficit in silver, writing:
In January 2024, The Silver Institute projected the fourth consecutive year of a “structural market deficit” in silver. The Institute projected a deficit of 176 million ounces (5,475 metric tons) after a deficit of 194 million ounces (6,035 metric tons) in 2023.
In April 2024, The Silver Institute projected a deficit increase of 17% to 215.3 million ounces in 2023, as demand grows 2% and supply falls 1%. While supply and demand projections indicate a growing deficit, they do not account for the most significant factor for the path of least resistance of silver price, investment, and speculative demand. Silver’s penchant for volatility leads many investors and speculators to flock to the market as trends develop. A herd of buying or selling can cause dramatic changes in silver’s fundamental equation. The break to the highest level since late 2012 was an event that could substantially disrupt the analysis.
If silver continues to make higher lows and higher highs and the current consolidation period builds a base from which silver prices move higher, expect waves of buying from trend-following traders, investors, and speculators. We could see silver prices explode higher as technical resistance levels give way.
The composition of the Bloomberg Silver Subindex-Futures contracts
The Bloomberg Silver Subindex is a subindex of the Bloomberg Commodity Index, reflecting the performance of silver measured by the price of rolling COMEX silver futures. The benchmark description is as follows:
The index does not take physical delivery of silver futures on COMEX. Instead, it rolls from one active month contract to the next over five business days.
The silver futures market is in contango, meaning deferred contracts trade at a premium to nearby contracts. The contango reflects interest rates, storage, and insurance costs. High interest rates have increased silver future’s contango, weighing on the index performance. However, higher silver prices in 2024 have more than compensated for the contango expenses. The continuous silver futures contract has rallied 24.3% from $23.853 at the end of 2023 to the $29.64 level on June 24.
AGQ turbocharges the Bloomberg Silver Subindex-Timing is critical
The fund summary for the leveraged ProShares Ultra Silver ETF states:
AGQ employs silver futures contracts to create leverage. Silver COMEX futures currently require a $12,650 original margin and an $11,500 maintenance margin. At $29.64 a silver, controlling a 5,000-ounce COMEX silver futures contract with a $148,200 value requires only an 8.54% good-faith deposit and a 7.75% maintenance requirement.
The bottom line is that futures provide significant leverage, and the AGQ ETF uses that leverage to create its 2X daily gearing to the silver futures price action. At $38.42 per share, AGQ is a liquid leveraged ETF product with over $564 million in assets under management. AGQ trades an average of nearly 1.68 million contracts daily and charges a 0.95 management fee. Nearby July COMEX silver futures rose 24.7% from $26.255 on May 2 to $32.75 on May 20.
Over the same period, AGQ rose 52% from $31.10 to $47.28 per share as the ETF delivered double the percentage gain as silver futures. Time and price stops are appropriate when using leveraged ETFs, as the price for the gearing is time decay. Please fully understand the risks and benefits of owning leveraged ETFs by first reading the SEC Investor Alert Bulletin on them.
Another risk is that while silver trades around the clock, AGQ only trades during U.S. stock market hours, so the leveraged product can miss highs or lows outside stock market hours. Since silver can gap higher or lower during overseas trading hours, AGQ can experience significant price volatility, trapping investors in profitable or loss-making risk positions.
Timing is critical when using any leveraged ETF. Meanwhile, risk-reward and silver fundamentals favor higher prices in late June 2024. Remember to approach any risk position in AGQ with a defined price and time stop and stick to the program. If silver moves higher, adjusting stops and profit targets higher to enhance earnings and protect profits is appropriate. However, short-term losses will prevent devastating financial results if silver moves lower and contrary to expectations. If the correction takes silver prices lower, stopping out and taking another look at establishing a long AGQ position at lower levels is the appropriate approach.
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