What is Silver Stacking?
If you’re on the silver scene for long enough, you’ll hear people talk about silver stacking. What is silver stacking? The goal of a silver stacker is to accumulate the largest quantity of silver possible without spending too much money.
Unlike numismatists, silver stackers generally aren’t very concerned about the historical context or collectability of their coins and rounds. Instead, the main objective of stacking silver is to get as much silver as you can without breaking the bank.
So what is silver stacking really, and how can you get in on one of the most popular pastimes in precious metals? We’re explaining everything you need to know about how to stack silver in today’s Bullion Academy guide.
What is Silver Stacking?
Let’s start with the basics: what is silver stacking? If you think about it, the name for this investing strategy is pretty self-explanatory. When you buy a large quantity of silver, how else could you store it except in a massive stack?
When silver stackers search for silver, their process looks a bit different than most collectors. For the majority of collectors, a number of factors help them decide which silver coins or bars they should buy. Purity, appearance, and numismatic value all factor into the equation when investors like you or I look for our next silver product.
For the silver stacker, the equation involves one main element: value. Remember: stackers are looking to “build a stack” without spending too much money on unnecessary premiums. By cutting down on premiums, they’re able to buy more silver for their cash.
How to Stack Silver
Now that you know the basics of silver stacking, let’s take a closer look at how to stack silver. Stacking silver involves 3 main steps: finding low premium silver, minimizing shipping costs, and storing your silver properly.
Finding Low Premium Silver
We’ll start with the basics. What is silver stacking’s main benefit? Of course, the answer is that silver stackers benefit from buying silver at the lowest possible price. Therefore, your goal as a newbie silver stacker is to learn how to find cheap silver.
Online marketplaces are a great way to find cheap silver for your growing silver stack. But before you can confidently identify the cheapest silver bars and coins for your collection, you should know at least a little bit about the cheapest silver products.
Generally, silver bars and constitutional silver coins are the cheapest options for new silver stackers.
Constitutional silver refers to American coins minted with .90 silver bullion. The 90% silver content on these coins makes them a great choice for silver stackers. This is especially true because many junk silver coins are not sold in good condition. Junk silver can be a cheap way to invest in silver without paying absurd premiums over spot.
Silver bars are another classic way to stack silver. Silver bars often feature minimalist designs, and you can sometimes buy AMAC (Any Mint, Any Condition) silver bars. These bars are even cheaper, and budget stackers can buy AMAC silver bars for a fraction of the premium they’d pay for a silver coin.
Minimizing Shipping Costs
Some silver stackers fail to consider shipping costs when deciding which silver rounds, coins, or bars to buy. Shipping fees can vary from dealer to dealer. During the era of online silver dealers, shipping costs are an important factor in the total cost of your investment.
Hero Bullion offers competitive shipping rates and free shipping on select orders. For stackers who are trying to get as much silver as they can for their cash, high shipping costs can quickly cut into your profit.
How to Store a Silver Stack
Storing your silver is an important part of investing. But depending on which options you choose for your stack, proper storage can quickly get expensive. Storing your coins, rounds, and bars at a bank or depository will usually require a monthly fee. This is money you could be using to buy more silver!
Proper storage for your silver stock depends on the type of silver you want to buy. For expensive, rare numismatic silver coins, we’d recommend investing in a safe. But it’s a different story entirely if your stack is made up primarily of cheap rounds and constitutional silver. For these investments, you might be able to get away with storing silver in a locked drawer or cabinet.
Why Stack Silver?
What is silver stacking, and why should you try it? There are a few different reasons why people stack silver. If you polled a hundred different silver collectors about why they choose to stack, you might very well end up with 100 different answers.
Still, there are a few popular reasons why investors choose to stack silver. Below, we’ll cover 3 main reasons to stack silver: emergency preparedness, budget investing, and collection diversity.
Emergency Preparedness
Emergency preparedness is a popular reason to stack silver. Many silver stackers believe that precious metals like gold and silver will be valuable currency in the case of a national – or global – emergency. Even if you don’t picture your silver portfolio as being useful in an apocalypse, it might be helpful to prepare. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
For investors interested in preparing for an emergency, silver is an excellent choice. What is silver stacking’s role in emergency preparedness? Silver rounds and bars can be stacked for extremely cheap compared to gold and platinum.
Budget Investing
Even if you don’t consider yourself a silver stacker, the methods that stackers use to build their portfolios can be helpful. This is especially important if you’re someone who is investing on a budget. We understand how hard it can be to buy precious metals without depleting your bank account.
Luckily, dealers like Hero Bullion offer a number of options for people who are investing on a minimal budget. What is silver stacking? In a way, silver stacking is just a method of investing without spending too much money on precious metals. When you stack silver, you can cut down on premiums and target the cheapest possible pure silver products for your money.
Collection Diversity
What is silver stacking? We get this question a lot, and investors also often ask how silver stacking can benefit their own portfolios. One important reason to stack silver is collection diversity.
If you’re someone who usually buys popular high-premium coins like the American Silver Eagle, it can be helpful to put your money into circulation coins like constitutional silver. It’s also worth noting that some of these coins might become more valuable in the future. What is silver stacking? Another reason to stack silver is to help diversify your portfolio.
Best Silver for Stacking
Now that we’ve covered the basics of “what is silver stacking” and how to stack silver, let’s dive into some of the best silver products for stacking. As we mentioned earlier in this guide, stacking silver is all about finding value. The best coins for stacking should come with the lowest premiums over spot.
A premium is a small fee you pay over the melt value of a coin, bar, or round. The melt value of a product is determined by the spot price of the precious metal it’s minted with. Convert your favorite silver product to troy ounces and then multiply that value by the spot price of silver. Bam – that’s its melt value!
When you go to buy silver for the first time, you’ll quickly realize that buying silver at spot price is functionally impossible. That’s because every silver product is sold at spot price plus a premium. To find the best silver for stacking, your goal is to minimize the premium you pay as much as possible.
Silver Coins
What is silver stacking like for coin collectors? It can be hard to stack silver using government-issued bullion coins. Some coins are sold at smaller premiums than others. But as a general rule, expect that you’ll probably pay the highest industry premiums when you invest in silver coins.
Coins like the American Silver Eagle are notorious for relatively high premium costs. Some stackers prefer these high premium coins, even if they mean paying more to build a portfolio. It is important to remember that coins from government mints tend to have higher numismatic value than bars and rounds.
Are silver coins right for your silver stacking efforts? This depends entirely on your own preferences and investment goals. Now that you have a basic answer to the question, “what is silver stacking,” it’s time to put some thought into which silver products are right for you.
Silver Rounds
If you like the look of silver coins but not their outrageous premiums, silver rounds might be a great choice for your stacking needs. Rounds are different from coins because, unlike coins, rounds can be minted privately.
Because the cost of producing a round at a private mint is usually lower than the production cost associated with big government mint coins, rounds may be sold at a considerably lower premium.
This isn’t always the case. What is silver stacking for round collectors? For people who enjoy the unique look and rarity of a beautiful silver round, stacking can be an exciting – and profitable – experience. You’ll want to shop around before settling on one distributor, though. Some dealers may charge higher premiums or shipping costs than others for your favorite rounds.
Hero Bullion offers an extensive range of silver rounds from all around the world. Our rounds are shipped safely and securely, and we work hard to keep premiums low so that you can get the most silver possible for your cash. What is silver stacking? To us, silver stacking is one of the best ways to invest in cheap silver.
Silver Bars
Silver bars are the stacking tool of choice for many investors. If you already understand “what is silver stacking,” it’s important to learn about finding cheap silver bars. Most silver bars include minimalist designs and a high purity of actual silver.
Perhaps more importantly, the lack of complex designs and numismatic value helps make silver bars one of the cheapest ways to invest in silver. Silver bars can be beautiful, too. Some investors think that silver bars don’t ever have beautiful designs – but this isn’t the case. We recommend trying to find a balance between aesthetic appeal and value when looking for your favorite silver bars.
What is silver stacking? For some investors, silver stacking means buying silver for as cheap as possible. To find cheap silver bars, check out some of Hero Bullion’s Any Mint, Any Condition (AMAC) silver bars.
Buying Cheap Silver
Cheap silver comes in many forms. Silver bars and rounds are popular choices for silver stackers. But ultimately, any silver product can find a place in your growing portfolio. To buy cheap silver, look for silver products with low premiums. By subtracting the melt value of the silver in your products from its total cost, you can determine its total premium costs.
How to Compare Silver Prices
What is silver stacking, and what should all silver stackers know? Anyone who wants to start seriously investing in silver should understand how to compare silver prices. To do this, you’ll need to have a good concept of how silver prices are determined. Both the spot price of silver and a varying premium are used to figure out the cost of investing in a silver round, bar, or coin.
We always recommend comparing prices across a number of different dealers before making your next purchase. Silver rounds and bars might be the cheapest ways to invest in silver, but silver coins might also make a nice addition to your silver stack.
Final Thoughts: What is Silver Stacking?
So what is silver stacking? You’ll hear the term quite a bit as you continue researching how to invest in silver. The simplest way to explain it is that silver stacking helps investors buy more silver while spending less money.
By looking for silver coins, bars, and rounds with reasonable premiums and low shipping costs, you can expand your silver portfolio without burning through your savings!
You might also be interested in:
About The Author
Michael Roets
Michael Roets is a writer and journalist for Hero Bullion. His work explores precious metals news, guides, and commentary.