Silver is trading at $18.66 a troy ounce as the work day begins. The question on many minds is can it go much higher?

Unlike gold, silver is nowhere near the old $50 record high set back in 1980. Nor is it near the $24 area that it traded in during the spring of 2008.

I did a story for Numismatic News last week where a couple of market makers in precious metals told me that their was upward resistance at the $18 because so many bought in in 2008 at that level after it had traded as high as the $24 area.

These buyers were apparently thinking at the time that they were getting a deal during a correction.

This year, according to the dealers, they are relieved to be getting out even after holding for a year and a half through a correction that had halved silver’s price from the 2008 peak.

It is also expected that once these nervous sellers clear out, then silver will be ready to pop even higher because of increasing demand for industrial uses and a hardier group of owners who expect silver will do some catching up relative to gold.

I will be keenly watching market action to see if we are reaching that breakthrough moment.