Stacking Platinum?
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Platinum is the forgotten Precious Metal. We often talk about Gold and Silver and even use the tag #steemsilvergold but Platinum is right up there with those two. In popular culture Platinum is often even perceived to be more valuable than Gold. In the music industry “Going Platinum” on an album or single means you’ve sold 1 million units. But “Going Gold” only requires 500,000 units sold. Recently I’ve been thinking about whether Platinum is a good metal for my own stack so thought I’d have a closer look.
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Platinum is currently cheaper per ounce than Gold, but this is a fairly recent development and it gives a bit of a clue as to why many stackers don’t talk about it. After the GFC hit in 2008 and then the Quantitative Easing policies were implemented in the aftermath, Gold shot up to overtake Platinum which never again reached its GFC-era peak of $2,270.50 USD per ounce on the 5th of March, 2008. Platinum currently trades at $998.45 USD per ounce. This suggests that Platinum may not have the same Safe Haven or Inflation Hedge appeal as Gold.
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A lot of jewellery is made from Platinum and it’s very common to be able to walk into a jewellery store and find it in rings, necklaces and earrings. As a stacker though I am not so much interested in these products. The Perth Mint do their generic Australian Kangaroo in 99.95 Platinum and in the past have minted Platinum Koala and a Platinum Platypus series coins. The Canadian Mint does a Platinum Maple Leaf and there are also a few Platinum bars minted by Credit Suisse, PAMP, Baird & Co.
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Platinum is just as rare as Gold and is spread over a wider area so its extraction costs are even higher than Gold. It has more industrial usage than Gold too and a lot of the produced platinum is used to make catalytic converters in vehicular emission control units. It’s also has an array of medical uses. Considering its scarcity, higher extraction cost and greater industrial uses than Gold it’s hard to believe it’s currently cheaper but then maybe with electric cars on the way one of the big industrial uses for Platinum will soon be gone.
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There are other ways to invest in Platinum that don’t require physical ownership. There are Allocated and Unallocated accumulation programs offered via many Bullion Dealers. There are also Exchange Traded Funds that trade on various stock exchanges that can give direct exposure to the Platinum spot price. There are also several mining companies that are actively mining Platinum and you can buy shares for exposure there too. Some of these mining companies also mine Gold, Silver or other metals so if you want a bit of a taste and are interested in leveraged exposure to several Precious Metals it’s worth having a look at some of these companies with Platinum in their portfolio.
All up I am still undecided about whether I should add some Platinum to my stack. I think some of the coins would look nice amongst my collections and maybe a couple of bars would be a good diversification of my metals. Platinum seems cheap compared to Gold but then again if it is not a widely accepted or recognised as a stack metal then it might be difficult to sell for a decent rate on the secondary market. I’m not too interested in selling for under spot with a Bullion Dealer. The Industrial Usage fundamentals are probably the key factor for me because if the usage of Platinum will drop once we all have electric cars and no longer need catalytic converters then surely the price will drop too.
https://www.americanbullion.com
https://www.moneymetals.com
https://www.apmex.com
https://bullionmoney.com.au
https://www.abcbullion.com.au
https://www.automotive-iq.com
https://cash-connect.com
https://www.pmbypm.com
I don't own any personally. I had thought about it, but the initial cost has always been something that got in the way. Rent and food have always been higher on my list of things to buy.
This is a well-written article though and it's got me thinking about it again. That being said, miners are on my brain too and there's only so much cheddar to spread around. :D
Happy Stacking!
Thanks. We need some more cheddar obviously :)
I do like mining shares though because they can be nice and liquid even though the risk can be a bit higher.
Yeah, although the mining I was thinking about is of the ASIC variety. The risk there right now is in pre-sale. They don't have any out yet and I'm scared of rats taking my cheese. Ha ha, too many levels on this conversation right now
LOL. I totally missed your point there. Personally not that keen on ASICs. The technology moves too fast and I think Proof-Of-Work Cryptos might have had their best days.
Here's one of my old posts about ASIC Resistance which you might be interested in.
PS - I think we are well off-topic now :)
Yeah, we are a bit off topic, but rather than move it to the other one, I'll just say that you wrote a good article there. Please don't flag me. ;)
You have a lot of good points and I agree that the reason Ethereum got passed up was because they're planning to switch to POS. I know that ASICs eventually become obsolete, but if you can get your money back and are able to profit for a while, then I think that's a win.
From what you say I might add some platinum into my portfolio, I was thinking of getting more coins or gold but this would add more diversification :)
Thanks for the detailed post and with all the information about where platinum is used, how you can own it and the current importance in society, it'll help me make a more educated decision on what I should do!
You're welcome. I am still undecided about Platinum myself but I was just sharing the information I was digging up on it. Good luck with diversifying your portfolio.
I couldn't have the shirtless "bro" at the top of the thread
LOL, thanks for that. You're a good egg. Followed :)
HAHAHA you and I were thinking the same thing
Keen to see what else you post!
Want to build on my strong portfolio :)
With the price of Platinum below gold, I've added some to my stack. I also added Rhodium to my stack as well and made a post about it a few weeks ago. Its crazy to me that the price of Palladium has held above Platinum for this long.
https://steemit.com/steemsilvergold/@matthewwarn/a-few-thoughts-on-physical-gold-silver-and-the-alt-metals
Thanks. Sorry I missed your previous post. You make some good points and have got me thinking!
very interesting post bro, greetings!
I wrote about platinum about a week ago myself. It's gone up quite a bit in the last year, however it is still below gold and even palladium. I think silver is a better buy than platinum, but platinum is better than gold.
Yours was a good post and you didn't link it so I will :-
https://steemit.com/steemsilvergold/@mikeshuh/is-platinum-too-cheap
Definitely it is a question worth asking.
I had the idea to get some platinum exposure post-GFC as an inflation hedge. I picked an ASX-listed company with huge reserves in South Africa. I was right about the price of platinum going up (although, as your chart shows, it also came back down). I was wrong with my choice of company though. Mismanagement has caused loss of some mining rights and doubts over others such that almost 10 years later, the platinum is still in the ground and the share price languishing.
That said, I have recently started stacking and have added some platinum, and some rhodium and some ruthenium. More for kicks to have variety than anything. I probably would necessarily add more at the moment.
Any mining investment in that part of the world carries significant Sovereign Risk. I prefer to stay invested in Australian mines personally, but it's not a fixed rule. There aren't a lot of Platinum mines in Australia.
I still feel that platinum is one of the less use cases of the metals. I do like the looks of it though. But when compared to silver and gold the use cases for those as simply massive and am I sure some is dumped in landfills every day via electronics.
It has excellent actual industrial use cases, but does not seem to have the same monetary metal use cases of Gold and Silver. It's a tough one to decide which is more important. In todays age it is probably the latter!
I think platinum is a good diversification tool. Unfortunately it lacks the historic value that gold and silver have. Great post.
Platinum, I have never thought of that
@buggedout honestly i dont own any platnum,but i think gold is better that it