“Silver prices are substantially more volatile than gold,” says Morningstar analyst Alex Bryan in a report on SLV. “This is largely because silver swings between dual roles as a useful industrial metal and safe-haven asset.”
Silver can behave like a “high-beta version of gold” because it can be more susceptible to swings in investment demand, he added.
The chart below shows the relative performance of silver (SLV) versus gold (GLD).
Full disclosure: Tom Lydon’s clients own SLV and GLD.