Last night I dreamed about silver prices and trends. I am sure it’s a sign that I spend too much time reading, researching, and thinking about how to invest in silver and precious metals. But while it’s on my mind, I thought I would share my current thoughts about precious metals investing.

As you may already know, precious metals climbed steeply in 2025 and peaked at the end of January 2026. Gold reached $5,500 per ounce, and silver peaked at $115 per ounce. (For reference, silver was trading for less than $40 in early 2025.)

After the record highs, metal prices dropped sharply and continued to decline, which I believe recently reached a bottom. Here is the one-year spot chart for silver from OneGold.com:

The metals now appear to have bottomed in mid-July. Gold dropped below $4,000 for less than a day and has held above that ever since. I had hoped silver would hold $60, but it did not, bottoming at $56 per ounce.

Over the last month, both metals have been trending higher. As I write this, gold is at $4,391, and silver spot is $65.35. In my OneGold account, I made two gold purchases under $4,100 and several silver trades totaling 30 ounces under $60.

I use OneGold because you can purchase for any dollar amount or buy fractional ounces.

While I believe precious metals will continue to appreciate over the long term, I also recommend another approach for investment exposure. Covered call ETFs use option-writing strategies to generate attractive yields while still providing exposure to the underlying asset. For silver investing, I recommend the Nicholas Silver Income ETF (SLVX), which holds silver metal ETFs and shares of silver mining stocks.

SLVX pays weekly dividends with a current 24% distribution yield. A fund like SLVX pays you to wait if it takes silver a while to move higher. When it does, SLVX will participate in the gains too. Those who bought or added shares when fear was running high are happy campers now.

— Tim Plaehn

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Source: Investors Alley