Silver ETFs provide exposure to silver prices through derivatives or actual stores of silver as well as the equity of the silver miners. Similar to gold, because silver has been used as a unit of exchange throughout history, investors consider silver a safe haven asset in times of distress. However, silver has a large number of industrial uses as well.
With 12 ETFs traded in the U.S. markets, Silver ETFs gather total assets under management of $6.25B. The average expense ratio is 1.22%. Silver ETFs can be found in the following asset classes:
- Commodities
- Equity
The largest Silver ETF is the iShares Silver Trust SLV with $4.91B in assets. In the last trailing year, the best performing Silver ETF was the USLV at 417.30%. The most-recent ETF launched in the Silver space was the Credit Suisse X-Links Silver Shares Covered Call ETN SLVO in 04/17/13.