The Most Dangerous Metal: SIlver Falls 4% in Minutes

Silver was near flat for most of Wednesday's trading, before rapidly declining in price just minutes before the close. Silver fell nearly 4% in only a few minutes prior to the closing bell. iShares Silver Trust

was down almost 5% on the day, with the vast majority of that selling pressure occurring after 3:30pm. Global X Silver Miners

is an ETF which attempts to return a value corresponding to the value of the stock of a variety of silver miners. SIL traded down almost 3%. For comparison's sake, gold experienced a minor decline during the same period, but finished up on the day. The SPDR Gold Trust

closed on Tuesday up 0.18%. Silver has a historical tendency to experience wild swings in its price. During the first full week of may, Silver declined nearly 30%. Yet, despite the declines, silver is still up roughly 70% from a year ago. Traders looking to take a bearish stance on silver might consider ProShares UltraShort Silver

. ZSL attempts to return a value corresponding to the inverse price of silver. If silver declines from here, ZSL might rally significantly.