this article by gene arensberg indicates that the etf's (slv,gld) are using the dips in silver and gold as buying opportunities. when metals prices are manipulated downwards, investors are taking advantage.

SLV Metal Holdings

As spot silver prices attempted a downward test of the $10.30s over the past week, metal holdings for Barclay’s iShares Silver Trust [SLV], the U.S. silver ETF, reported adding a net 79.79 tonnes to show a new record 7,143.27 tonnes of silver metal held for its investors by custodians in London.

There has been particularly strong buying pressure for the big silver ETF since the beginning of the year. As of Friday, January 16, SLV had added an impressive 350.28 tonnes of new silver to its metal holdings in London.

Clearly there were more investors who wanted more exposure to the price of silver than investors who wanted less in the first half of January, 2009. Part of the reason for that is another big jump in premiums for bullion silver products on the Street, as dealers reported extreme demand for physical silver in all forms mid-week.

http://www.stockhouse.com/Columnists... -