Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Canadian gold miner Crystallex International (AMEX: KRY) experienced heavy volatility in early trading Monday on fairly typical volume.

So what: Crystallex saw its shares down 12.5% at the opening bell, only to spike quickly back up. At the time of this writing, the shares are trading pretty much in line with gold prices and the S&P 500, which are both up slightly.

Now what: With no real news coming out of Crystallex, I'm chalking up today's craziness to the typical volatility associated with junior miner penny stocks. For those Fools bullish on the bullion, bigger miners like Yamana (NYSE: AUY), Goldcorp (NYSE: GG), and Newmont (NYSE: NEM) offer far better ways to bet your convictions. For example, Crystallex is down roughly 80% over the past five years despite soaring gold prices.

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