This past month has been filled with headline-grabbing news events and, for a change, it was not only politics that dominated those news stories, but rather financial markets themselves, with gold and mining shares grabbing a major share of attention.

It should come as no surprise that gold and silver acted similarly, rising sharply during the early hours of the crisis and retreating as tensions abated.

For “hard money” advocates, this has been a remarkable month. Gold has risen by more than $100, silver has begun to surge, and the headlines are full of news items quite capable of raising public concerns to crisis levels.

We’ll conclude by digging a bit more into the regulations and pitfalls, and discuss what they are used for, their relationship to gold, and what the future holds.