Over the past thirty years, the demand for silver in the American economy has consistently gone up. Silver is the most commonly used metal today, mostly because it is used as both an industrial commodity and as a valuable precious metal in the marketplace. It has become a mainstay because of its strength, durability, convenience, malleability, ductility, and conductivity.

Silver is sensitive enough to reflect light, while being durable enough to endure extremely high temperatures. This adds to silver’s value and serves to continuously increase the demand for it. In addition to these qualities, silver also has a place in the medicinal world. Silver is used in many health care products because of its antibacterial characteristics. It is also the primary (as the name implies) component of the “Silver Bullet” (no, not Coors Light) hospitals use for burn victims.

Apart from its wide variety of uses, the demand of silver has been going up because of its supply. As you know, supply and demand go hand in hand. It is estimated that more than 90% of the naturally occurring silver has already been mined and consumed. Much of that silver is gone, making what is left of the supply that much more valuable. With the supply in question, the demand has gone up. Since the demand has gone up, the value therefore rises, as well.

One hundred years ago, it was estimated that there were nearly 15 billion ounces of silver in the world. Fast forward to today, and that number is less than 500 million ounces of silver. In theory, there are billionaires alive today capable of purchasing all of the world’s silver, since it would cost less than 5 billion dollars to do so.

The amount of silver is never going to go up, so the value of silver is only going to increase over time. That is why many experts strongly recommend that people invest in precious metals, especially silver. There are a few ways to obtain silver and a few different forms in which you can get it. You can usually get your silver from Monex or companies such as Monex in either coin or ingot form. The coins are typically made in a currency value or are actually classified as ingots themselves. Ingots are generally made of pure bullion and cast in sizes and shapes convenient for the consumer and the market.