Down 35.4% apiece this year, the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) and the ETFS Physical Silver Shares (NYSEArca: SIVR) could use any and all available help.
SLV, the largest silver ETF by assets, closed at $18.96 Wednesday, just 7% above its 52-week low. Recently, Glen Ring, editor of View on Futures and a longtime technical chart watcher, and Andrew Thrasher, a chartered market technician and investment analyst at Financial Enhancement Group, believe silver’s July low around $18 could be retested, reports Charlotte McLeod for Silver Investing News.
There is concern that if silver futures dwell in the low $18 for too long, new lows will be right around the corner. [Silver ETFs Look Vulnerable]
There are alternative short-term views of the white metal. In fact, Hwang Il Doo, a senior metals trader at Korea Exchange Bank Futures sees upside to $22, about 16% from current levels, Jau Hur reports for Bloomberg.
However, there are conditions to that prediction. “If futures breach the 10-day average of $20.065 and the 18-day average of $20.569, this will create a golden-cross formation that is considered a bullish indicator,” Bloomberg reported, citing Doo.
It has been over two weeks since SLV closed above $20 and Nov. 11 was the last time the ETF closed around $20.60. [Silver’s Slide: Worse Before it Gets Better]
Golden crosses are defined by an upward cross of a longer-term moving average by a shorter-term moving average. For example, golden cross would occur when an ETF’s 20-day moving average moves above its 50-day line.
A stronger example would be the 50-day line crossing above the 200-day moving average. SLV is almost 9% below its 50-day simple moving average and 15.4% below its 200-day SMA.
iShares Silver Trust
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post. Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of SLV.