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The silver market price differs depending upon how you choose to invest in silver. Below are some different silver investment options.

Silver Futures

Fundamental data is hard to come by for the silver market price because there is no way of telling exactly how much silver is below and above ground. However, the Silver Institute states that world mine production totaled 681 million ounces in 2008, up 2.5% from the previous year. Until prices exploded in 2003, silver was somewhat stagnant as an investment. On the demand side, the silver market price benefits from strong world growth and a weaker U.S. dollar. Higher inflation tends to move silver prices upward. It should be noted that futures trading involves substantial risk.

Silver Commodities

Silver, like gold and platinum, are precious commodities. Lately, compared to gold and platinum, silver continues to outperform and has been hovering around the same price. What’s more, the silver market price still has a lot of room to grow.

Silver Bullion

Precious metals in bulk form are known as bullion and are traded on commodity markets. Bullion metals may be cast into bars or minted into coins. Bullion coins’ face value as currency is far below that of their value as bullion. For example, a bullion silver dollar may be only coined as a dollar, but the real value is really over $40.00. The defining characteristic of silver bullion is that it is valued by its silver content rather than by face value as money.

Silver Coins

The silver coin market is booming! On January 12, 2010, the U.S. Mint announced that it has sold out of 2009 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins. With an average silver price of $14.67 an ounce in 2008, and more recently above $40, it will be interesting to see if demand will continue on these investment coins. Silver coins are 99.9 percent silver and produced at various private and governmental mints. Most silver coins are one troy ounce silver and have specific face value. But the rarity and characteristics of a coin, due to limited issue, determines the value and price of the coin- not the face value. Usually the common silver coins, such as the American Silver Eagle or the Canadian Silver Maple Leaf, are fairly standard. There are early rare silver coins which can sell for much more than the actual silver content of the coin.