silver investment & finance definition

A white-colored, soft, shiny metal typically used in jewelry making as well as in industrial processes, such as photography and electronics manufacturing. Silver also is an investment vehicle and silver futures trade on futures exchanges. In the United States, the primary futures exchange for silver is the New York Mercantile Exchange. One contract equals 5,000 troy ounces and prices are quoted in cents per troy ounce. For example, 526.5 cents per troy ounce translates into a cost of $5.26 per ounce, thereby making one contract wroth $26,300. Silver futures are traded through open outcry on NYMEX. When the regular trading session isn’t open, the futures also can be traded on NYMEX’s electronic trading system, ACCESS.

Silver has had an important role in the U.S.’s monetary system. In 1792, Congress based the U.S. currency on the silver dollar and fixed, or set, silver’s value to gold. Silver was used to make coins until 1965.

Silver is available in different levels of purity. Fine silver is 99.9 percent silver; sterling silver is 92.5 percent silver, with other metals, typically copper, making up the difference, and coin silver is 90 percent silver with 10 percent copper. Nickel silver, despite its name, is an alloy of 65 percent copper with nickel and zinc, and has no silver at all. Mexico, the United States, and Peru are the primary producers of silver.