By Melissa Pistilli—Exclusive to Silver Investing News

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When ETFs were first introduced to the marketplace a decade ago, they opened up a whole new world of investment opportunities. Now New York-based Global X Funds has extended those opportunities even further. Tuesday, Global X launched the world’s first silver miner exchange-traded fund, Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL).

The SIL tracks the Solactive Global Silver Miners Index, which is “comprised of the largest and most liquid silver mining companies in the world,” reports Lawrence Williams of Mineweb. The expense ratio is 0.65 percent and “the underlying index uses a multi-tiered capped weighting methodology,” says Ron Rowland, founder and executive editor of Invest With An Edge newsletter.

The new fund will give investors “efficient and targeted exposure” to silver miners, says Global X Funds CEO Bruno del Ama. Over half of the listed companies are Canadian, with the remaining 42 percent based in Mexico, the US, Russia and Peru.

Many of my favorites make up SIL’s current holdings, including: Coeur d’Alene Mines [NYSE: CDE], Endeavour Silver Corp. [TSX: EDR], First Majestic Silver Corp. [TSX: FR], Fortuna Silver Mines [TSX-V: FVI], Great Panther Silver Ltd. [TSX: GPR], Hecla Mining Co. [NYSE: HL], MAG Silver Corp. [TSX: MAG], and Silver Wheaton Corp. [TSX:SLW].

Silver Spot Price Action

After achieving its highest finish since January on Wednesday last week, jumping up to $18.42 an ounce in New York, the spot price of silver plummeted early Friday to close at $17.70 an ounce, down .70 cents from Thursday’s closing price.

Silver started the week off falling further Monday morning to graze the $17.50 range until finally closing around Friday’s level.

Amongst the precious metals group, silver took the biggest hit during Friday’s fall as investors left for the perceived safety of the dollar after news broke of the SEC’s fraud charges against Goldman Sachs, the world’s biggest investment bank. Commodities across the board faced sell-offs Friday.

“The biggest firm in the world was doing the unthinkable, and that scares people, it makes people unsure,” said James Cordier, a portfolio manager at OptionSellers.com.

Silver and gold attempted to rally Tuesday morning, with silver making a break past the $18 level, but those gains didn’t last long and silver quickly fell back to around $17.80 an ounce. However, some analysts are still confident that price supportive factors for silver are still in place, especially as debt problems in the euro zone continue and economic recovery forges ahead in other regions of the world, particularly Asia.

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