How Many Ounces of Silver Does it Take To Buy The Dow?
Which has performed better over the past forty-six years: silver or the Dow Jones Industrial Average? Check out the charts and compare.
Check out the Smaulgld Silver Buying Guide
Updated August 8, 2017
Silver vs.The Dow Over the Past Forty-Seven Years
Silver has often been referred to as Gold’s poorer cousin. Historically, it took about 16 ounces to silver to buy one ounce of gold. For the past few years, however, the gold/silver ratio has soared to about 75 ounces of silver to buy one ounce of gold. When gold rises, silver generally rises more than gold, but when gold declines, silver takes a bigger hit.
For twelve key differences between silver and gold, click here.
Here are some charts over 6 months, two five, ten, twenty and forty-six years that show how silver performed vs the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) The charts show how many ounces of silver it took to buy the DJIA from 1970-2017 (bottom).
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Silver vs the Dow Charts
Silver vs the Dow – Six Months
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Silver vs the Dow – Two Years
Canada’s Most Popular Silver Coin
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Silver vs the Dow – Five Years
Europe and Japan’s Most Popular Silver Coin
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Silver vs the Dow – Ten Years
China’s Most Popular Silver Coin
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Silver vs the Dow – Twenty Years
Silver vs the Dow – 1970-2016
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Long Term Silver Performance 1970-2016
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Silver’s Average Annual Yearly Percentage Price Changes 1970-2012
Percentage of Silver up Years: 48.9%. Since 1970 silver has gone up 23 years over the last 47 years or less than half of the years. In the years where silver hit its all time highs, 1980 and 2011, the average price for those years was down from the previous years.
Longest Silver Winning Streak: Six years. Silver went up six years in a row from 2002-2007.
Longest Silver Losing Streak: Five years. Silver went down five years in a row from 1988-1992
Largest Annual Silver Gain: 374% (1979)
Largest Annual Silver Loss: 49% (1981)
Forty-Seven Year Silver Performance: +894% Silver was about $1.75 an ounce in 1970 and currently is about $16.50.
The price of silver is more volatile than gold or the Dow. (see also Gold vs. the Dow) Silver has recorded the largest annual price gain and loss. Silver has also had the longest losing streak and shortest winning streak compared to the DJIA and gold. Silver has the worst record for consistent performance, rising just 50% of the years.
Long Term Dow Jones Industrial Average Performance 1970 -2016
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The Dow Jones Industrial Averages from 1970 to 2016
Percentage of DJIA up years: 70%. Since 1970 the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gone up 34 of the last 47 years or 72% of the years.
Longest DJIA Winning Streak: Nine years. The DJIA went up nine years in a row from 1991-1999.
Longest DJIA Losing Streak: Three years. The DJIA went down three years in a row from 2000-2002.
Largest annual DJIA gain: 38% (1975)
Largest annual DJIA loss: 34% (2008)
Forty-seven year DJIA performance: 3,566%* The DJIA was about 600 in 1970 and is currently around 22,000 today.
The DJIA has been the most consistent performer among gold and silver. (see also Gold vs. The Dow). It’s longest streak of negative returns is just three years in a row. The Dow, however, also has the lowest single year annual gain.
*does not include any reinvested dividends.
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