I’ve been following the precious metals market a lot recently, and it seems one of the big reasons gold goes up is because the dollar gets weaker. I think it might be easier, if I want to invest in commodities, is to just buy foreign currency. Also, I don’t have to worry about numismatic value or seller fees, and it seems instantaneous. I think if I wanted to sell gold/silver, it would take a few days. Buying it takes a week or more.
What is the cheapest way to do this?
In my (limited) experience, the Swiss seem to have the smallest spread between the buy and sell rate. But I think you will find that the price of gold varies much more than price of Swiss Francs or any other currency I am aware of.
The trouble with this sort of speculation is that you are taking a view on which way the currency will move and all evidence is that this is stochastic. Unless you have inside information, any investment based on change in value (as opposed to anticipated dividends) is a crap shoot.
The other way is to become a currency trader yourself so you can collect, rather than pay, commissions. And George Soros made fortunes by finding different rates on different exchanges. But you can’t do that; the differences are tiny, much smaller than the commission you will pay.