Trading silver futures
Silver, like gold and other precious metals can be traded on the futures market. Trading silver futures is an ideal way to speculate on price movements in the short to medium term. For those wishing to invest in silver in the longer term, there may be better alternatives.
Silver Price Chart
As the silver chart shows, silver has increased in value by close to 400% over the last few years. As the chart clearly shows there have been many big spikes.
There are many factors that influence the price of silver including:
As with all markets, speculators play a big role. Historically big players such as Warren Buffet have bought and sold large quantities of silver. 
There are also many non-investment related demands for silver that influence price. These include jewelery, dentistry, silverware, many electrical goods and more recently uses in medicine.
Historically, silver prices have been extremely volatile. Fluctuations of 20% in course of one month are not uncommon. This can provide some excellent trading opportunities. However, when this degree of volatility is combined with high amounts of margin, it can result in extreme risk.
There are two sizes of silver contracts traded on the futures exchanges.
Firstly there is the 5000oz silver contract. At the time of writing silver prices are $14. This would make the nominal value of the contract $70,000. This is probably too high for many smaller traders, especially when we consider the high volatility of this metal. The 5000oz contracts are traded on the CBOT and COMEX exchanges.
Mini silver Futures
Secondly there are the mini silver contracts, these are much smaller than the standard size at only 1000oz. Assuming silver prices were $14 per oz when the contract was traded, the nominal value would only be $14,000. Considering the volatility, this contract will be much better suited to many smaller traders and speculators. This contract is traded on the CBOT exchange.In conclusion, silver future trading a great instrument to trade, due to the volatility. However, as always one must fully understand the risks when trading this metal. Losses can potentially be very high indeed if you are the wrong side of a big price move.