I've been investigating this whole issue of paper vs. physical gold and silver, and I'm learning that under periods of duress, the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), while allegedly backed by "allocated" gold, can substitute paper gold instead. The current dislocation between paper and physical metal prices, as I see it, creates some potentially unfavorable dynamics for the GLD as well as the iShares Silver Trust (SLV). ETFs backed by physical metal and nothing else, in times of duress or not, make more sense.
For this reason, I believe those interested in playing price moves in gold and silver should revert to the Sprott ETFs, which are backed by physical metal under all market conditions, according to their prospectuses. That would be the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS) and the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV). You will notice that the charts don't look a whole lot different from the GLD and the SLV, but I believe for the purpose of reducing counter party risk, these may be better choices as vehicles for playing moves in gold and silver.
The pullback to the 50-dma in PHYS offers a lower-risk entry opportunity using the 50-dma as a selling guide, while the PSLV's pullback into the 10-dma as volume dries up significantly offers a lower-risk entry of its own.
Ultimately, like Coke(TM), I prefer the "real thing" to anything, including any and all precious metals ETFs. While ETFs are useful for playing trends in the metals, there's no place like physical.