The waiting is the hardest part. But that may be the best approach to investing in gold’s sister metal: silver.

On its face, silver seems like a screaming buy, right now. But there may be reasons for traders and investors to exercise patience in scooping up so-called poor man’s gold, according to one analyst.

But first, here’s the bull case for the precious-gray metal:

Demand is outstripping supply

Silver sells at a relative discount with expectations for further gains

Industrial demand is growing.

The metal also has a better track record than gold, so far this year.

Those solid fundamentals paint a rosy picture for the commodity but Adam Koos, president of Libertas Wealth Management Group argues that the smart investor should be patient.

“You should not invest in silver now if you like making money and doing so safely,” Koos notes. “The best thing an investor can do to position themselves in the silver market is to take the short side” and “purposely procrastinate.”

That may be tough advice to follow given the aforementioned fundamentals underpinning silver, especially since it US:SIN5 has been cheap at around $16 an ounce, compared with an all-time high near $49 an ounce back in 2011.

Moreover, silver futures have outperformed gold year to date, with silver up more than 2% compared with gold’s US:GCQ5 0.7% loss so far this year.

And physical silver has seen a global supply deficit in the past two years (as the included export-import map illustrates), according to The Silver Institute.

“With silver supply now in deficit relative to demand in three of the last four years, it appears the silver price has to rise,” said Bradford Cooke, chief executive officer and director of Endeavour Silver Corp. EXK, -8.51% . “There is no new mine supply ready to be developed, yet industrial demand continues to grow.”

According to Thomson Reuters, India, among the world’s biggest silver importers, brought in a whopping $4 billion worth of silver last year, while Mexico, a top exporter, sent roughly half that — $2.2 billion of silver into global markets.

Global supplies are also poised for a deficit of 57.7 million ounces this year, according to Thomson Reuters.

Ordinarily that would add up to a solid reason to jump on silver, but here’s the main argument for waiting to buy:

Silver prices may close north of $17 in the coming weeks, but Koos warns that it is likely to fall back from those levels along with gold, in the short term.

“There is entirely too much headwind and uncertainty concerning the U.S. dollar DXY, +0.71% , not to mention a 100% change that interest rates will rise, giving a higher-yielding haven to safe money relative to that of silver,” said Koos.

That implies volatility to come.

Promising future

Still, many signs point to a promising future for silver—and timing is everything.

Part of the reason supplies are likely to come up short this year is a climb in industrial demand—and ironically, it is also a reason why some analysts say the timing isn’t right for investors to jump in.

Chintan Karnani, chief market analyst at Insignia Consultants, believes silver is “fundamentally bearish due to a lack of demand from Asian buyers.” Read: Chinese demand for silver bullion bars halved last year

“Short-term and medium-term silver [investors] should wait for a clear trend reversal and then invest,” he said. Long-term investors can invest in very small amounts, buying the same dollar value amount on any 15% dip, said Karnani.

Maybe that trend reversal is already here.

Silver’s breaking out. FactSet

A daily chart shows that silver is breaking out through a declining trend line that started last summer, said Taki Tsaklanos, head of research at Secular Investor.

“It is clear that a big move is under way,” he said. “Given the seasonally strong months of July and August and the start of a breakout on the charts, we expect a rally in silver” during the summer months.

In contrast, Karnani expects silver to “form a long-term bottom before September of this year.” Then it’ll likely consolidate in a higher, wide range until January and then start another bull run, he said.

Still, even now, Karnani views silver as “undervalued” and “anything below $15 an ounce will be like a big discount to prospective investors.” Read: China’s slowdown hurts now, but silver could see a 40% spike by year-end

Patience

So, maybe investors won’t have to wait too long.

If you’re a long-term investor, “take a little hiatus until 2016…when the U.S. president will be a huge question mark, U.S. stocks will most likely pick up in volatility and any rate increases will have already been priced into the metals,” said Libertas Wealth’s Koos.

That is the year silver prices may hit $30.

Silver has a “strong chance at hitting” $25 to $29 next year, predicts Paul Mladjenovic, author of Precious Metals Investing for Dummies. His long-term target price? $100 an ounce—but he didn’t offer a more specific time frame for that price jump.

However, as Guns N’ Roses lead singer Axl Rose might say, patience will be key:

“Remember it took eight years for silver to move from $4.40 to $49, so while I certainly think silver can go higher than that, it will be over several years, peaking with gold when the global debt and deficit crisis finally gets resolved through default and/or debasement and the U.S. dollar finally bottoms,” said Endeavour’s Cooke.