August 19, 2016 -- This is the seventh straight week in which silver has traded both below and above $20 per ounce during the week. Seven weeks is usually about the extent of tight, sideways trading ranges. So investors should be ready for the silver market to make a decisive break one way or the other very soon. At some point the silver market will leave the $20 level behind for good.

It appears that some big speculators are betting on an upside breakout. Silver exchange-traded funds saw some heavy inflows this week. On Wednesday, ETF buyers pushed the net assets of silver ETFs up by the equivalent of 53 tonnes.

So far, it has worked out okay insofar as the largest of these exchange-traded products haven’t shown significant deviations from spot metals prices. But in chaotic market conditions, or a derivatives blow up, or a run on the bank type event in the physical market, the lack of 100% physical backing at all times could become a problem for holders of these ETF instruments. Buyer beware.

Live prices at MoneyMetals.com show gold currently trading at $1,338.80 per ounce on the global market, and silver is coming in at $19.32.