The silver market is largely outside Europe. And here is a fundamental thought trap, into which an ignorant investor often slips. Europeans are thinking in terms of their own standards. In the case of precious metals, the European man thinks what he is used to: in metric. This is fine when investing in gold (the gold market is huge), but it is a big mistake in investing in silver. The silver market, as we have said, is small, so a substantial part of it does not take place in Europe.

Metric system (grams, kilograms, etc.) has no place on a large silver market. Silver is traded in ounces and their multiples. An Englishman, an American, or an Indian will not accept the metric system. Therefore, investing in silver should always be multiples of ounces. When buying investment silver you should choose liquid silver coins and silver ingots that are in multiples of ounces. On the contrary, we should avoid buying European silver ingots, which are in inappropriate metric design and lack the necessary liquidity.

Let's make a little thought experiment here: Can you imagine buying gold or silver in the taels? Yes or no? Perhaps no because they are traditional Chinese measures that are still used in the precious metal market in China.

In short, the Anglo-Saxon measures are decisive for the silver market, so we must also abandon our ideas of investing in precious metals in metric.

Of course, an ignorant investor will ask why he should accept ounces when buying silver when metric ingots are produced and sold in Europe. The answer is simple: the European silver market is extremely small. Liquidity is woeful and there is little hope that it might change in the future. Rather, as silver prices rise, liquidity in Europe will become weaker.

Metric metallurgical bars are suitable for industrial processing. It is logical that a foundry worker cannot be compelled to convert from ounces to metric when silver is melted (or put into galvanizing baths, etc.). But we are investors and therefore we have to choose a proper metal investment class - and that is the Anglo-Saxon measure.

By the way, have you noticed that not even stock exchange contracts are metric? Just as grains are traded in bushels, oil in barrels (gallons) or meat in pounds, precious metals are traded in ounces. Respect these rules. The silver market is very small, so you must pay more attention to the conventions, which include investing in multiples of ounces only. European ingots, metric, can also be cheaper, for example if they are intended for industrial use. But investing in precious metals is completely different from industrial use. Therefore, avoid the metric system when investing in silver.

Now we know that we will only choose from silver coins and silver ingots in multiples of ounces.