Key Advisors Group prefers gold over silver as volatility spikes

When markets sell off hard and fear spikes, investors reach for metals. But Eddie Ghabour of Key Advisors Group has a specific opinion about which metal deserves that defensive role right now, and it is not silver.

“Silver to us gets more speculation and high risk traders in the space, volatility index of silver got to historic levels, and so, when we try to go to a flight to safety we’ll pick gold over silver. To us silver is when we’re in a raging bull market — risk assets to us a lot of time makes more sense to be in silver. We don’t look at this as a flight to safety play.”

Ghabour made those remarks as the Dow was down 750 points, the S&P down 105, and the Nasdaq down 438 and falling. That kind of tape clarifies what you actually own versus what you think you own.

Gold vs. Silver: Two Very Different Investor Bases

The distinction Ghabour draws is not about the metals themselves. It is about who trades them. Gold attracts central banks, institutional allocators, and long-only defensive investors. Silver attracts a more speculative crowd, which is why its volatility index can reach historic levels during stress periods. Silver had been above $100 before pulling back into the $80s, a swing that tells you everything about the type of participant dominating that market.

The data backs this up. GLD is up 17.81% year-to-date, while SLV is up 18.72% over the same period. The returns look similar on paper, but the path matters. Silver’s gains come with dramatically more chop, and in a flight-to-safety environment, that chop is exactly what you are trying to escape.

GLD as a Defensive Instrument

Key Advisors is positioning in SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:GLD) specifically because it behaves like a defensive asset. GLD has a net expense ratio of just 0.4% and has been trading since November 2004, giving it a long track record as the go-to institutional vehicle for gold exposure. Over the past year, GLD has returned 72.71%, a remarkable run for an asset traditionally viewed as a slow-moving store of value.

The macro backdrop supports the thesis. The VIX spiked to 29.49 on March 6, 2026, approaching the 30-plus “high fear” threshold, and remains at 24.23 as of March 11, putting it in the 89th percentile of readings over the past year. That is the environment where gold earns its keep.

Key Advisors has also raised a decent amount of cash and is not dipping into equities right now, playing defense across the board. Gold and copper are their metals of choice — assets that can hold up during turbulence and still participate when conditions normalize. Ghabour’s framework draws a clear line: gold for safety, iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) for bull market speculation.