“Gold might have history on its side, but when it comes to investing in precious metals platinum arguably makes more sense. Platinum is rarer, dearer and just as pretty. What’s more, unlike gold, it has an important industrial use in automotive catalytic converters and LCD TV screens. If that weren’t enough to recommend the white metal, the launch of new exchange-traded funds makes platinum easier than ever to buy and sell,” Christopher Helman Reports From Forbes.

Helman goes on to say, “How does platinum compare to gold as an investment? It tends to trail its yellow sister when times are bad but outperform when industrial demand recovers. That’s been the case in the past three months, as platinum prices have outpaced gold’s by roughly 10 percentage points. These days, an ounce of platinum at $1,600 buys roughly 1.4 ounces of gold. That’s more than the average of 1.2 ounces last year, according to Bloomberg. Back in May 2008, an ounce of platinum bought 2.4 ounces of gold”

“The ETF Securities Physical Platinum Shares (PPLT) fund is similar to the popular gold bullion SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) in that it buys and holds raw bullion (safeguarded by JP Morgan Chase (JPM)). Its shares track platinum’s spot price. You’ll incur lower transaction and storage fees in holding the ETF (annual expenses: 0.6%) than in holding and storing your own bullion bars,” Helman Reports.

See more details to Helman’s story: HERE

Platinum does have some appeal to it for different reasons but, the SPDR Gold Shares ETF is the second biggest ETF in the world for a reason. There are also many other ways to play gold through ETFs. We have listed some other options investors may be interested in looking at below:

LONG:

The investment (GLD) seeks to replicate the performance, net of expenses, of the price of gold bullion. The trust holds gold, and is expected to issue baskets in exchange for deposits of gold, and to distribute gold in connection with redemption of baskets. The gold held by the trust will only be sold on an as-needed basis to pay trust expenses, in the event the trust terminates and liquidates its assets, or as otherwise required by law or regulation.

The investment (GDX) seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the AMEX Gold Miners index. The fund generally normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in common stocks and American depositary receipts (ADRs) of companies involved in the gold mining industry. The fund is nondiversified.

The Funds (GDXJ) investment objective is to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners Index (the “Junior Gold Miners Index”). For a further description of the Junior Gold Miners Index, see “Junior Gold Miners Index.”

The objective of (SGOL) the newly listed shares is to reflect the performance of the price of Gold bullion, less the Trust’s operating expenses. The Trust is open ended and is designed for investors who want a cost-effective(1) and convenient(2) way to invest in Gold as well as diversify their Gold holdings.

The investment (UGL) will seek to replicate, net of expenses, twice the performance of gold bullion as measured by the U.S. Dollar p.m. fixing price for delivery in London. The fund normally invests assets in financial instruments with economic characteristics twice the return of the index. It may employ leveraged investment techniques in seeking its investment objective.

The investment (DGL) seeks to track the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index – Optimum Yield Gold Excess Return. The index is a rules-based index composed of futures contracts on gold and is intended to reflect the performance of gold.

The investment (DGP) seeks to replicate, net of expenses, twice the daily performance of the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity index – Optimum Yield Gold Excess Return. The index is intended to reflect changes in the market value of certain gold futures contracts and is comprised of a single unfunded gold futures contract.

The objective (IAU) of the trust is for the value of its shares to reflect, at any given time, the price of gold owned by the trust at that time, less the trust’s expenses and liabilities. The trust is not actively managed. It receives gold deposited with it in exchange for the creation of baskets of iShares, sells gold as necessary to cover the trust’s liabilities, and delivers gold in exchange for baskets of iShares surrendered to it for redemption. The trust is not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or a commodity pool for purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act.

SHORT:

The investment (DZZ) seeks to replicate, net of expenses, twice the inverse of the daily performance of the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity index – Optimum Yield Gold Excess Return. The index is intended to reflect changes in the market value of certain gold futures contracts and is comprised of a single unfunded gold futures contract.

The investment (GLL) will seek to replicate, net of expenses, twice the inverse daily performance of gold bullion as measured by the U.S. Dollar p.m. fixing price for delivery in London. The fund normally invests assets in financial instruments with economic characteristics inverse to the index. It may employ leveraged investment techniques in seeking its investment objective.

NYSE:GDX, NYSE:GDXJ, NYSE:GLD, PALL, PPLT, SGOL