Silver is both a monetary metal and an industrial input, roughly half of demand coming from electronics, solar panels and brazing. That split makes it more volatile than gold in both directions: it rallies harder in monetary panics and falls harder in industrial slowdowns.
Contract size is the thing to respect. At $30 an ounce one contract is $150,000 of notional, and a 3% day is $4,500. The micro contract (SIL, 1,000 ounces) and the older 2,500-ounce mini exist for smaller accounts.
Delivery is physical against warehouse-receipt for COMEX-approved bars, and the registered-and-eligible split in exchange vaults is watched closely during squeezes.
Example: silver moves from $29.80 to $30.55, a 75-cent gain. One contract earns 75 x 5,000 / 100 = $3,750; one micro earns $750. The same move is a 2.5% change in the metal.
Related: gc, gold-silver-ratio, comex, hunt-brothers-silver, troy-ounce