Platinum is a good alternative for investing in precious metals. However it is not so popular like in investment in gold or silver.

Platinum is used as a consumer and industrial products. It is well known jewelry but more important is usage in industrial production. Most of the platinum is used in automotive industry in production of catalytic converters. Therefore, compared to investing in gold, it can be bet on the rebound in auto industry. Platinum is more volatile than gold is. Generally speaking platinum and silver are better investments during economic strength than gold. And on the other hand gold is safer play in turmoils and uncertainties.

Here is the list of platinum funds. Because of the small size of the platinum market there is no possibility to create physically backed ETF. And because of this all 3 funds are actually exchange traded notes. Major difference is than ETNs are debts issues.

iPath Dow Jones-UBS Platinum Subindex Total Return ETN (PGM)
UBS E-TRACS CMCI Long Platinum Total Return ETN (PTM)
E-TRACS CMCI Short Platinum Excess Return ETN (PTD)

Another possible way how to get exposure from this precious metal is investment in platinum producers. Two biggest producers are Anglo Platinum (AGPPY) and Impala (IMPUY).