Back in 1984, Mr. Miyagi famously intoned "Wax on. Wax off," to his Karate Kid pupil. The training mantra for the hero of the eponymous flick could well be adapted to the 2010 market as "Risk on. Risk off."

Judging from the Gold Miners Ratio—the price multiple of the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) over the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) — investors flipped the risk switch to the "On" position in July and have kept the light burning ever since.

The price of the larger-cap producers' funds was once twice that of the junior portfolio, but that premium's been chipped away as buyers bid up GDXJ. The ratio's chalking up a new low at 1.58, signaling a new high in mining aficionados' risk appetite. Think of an investment in GDX as an analog to a blue-chip stock purchase, while GDXJ is akin to a venture capital play.

Since the beginning of the year, the GDXJ portfolio's gained 41 percent, while the GDX fund's appreciation has paced that of gold at 24 percent.

That's an important distinction. GDXJ's relative strength to gold shot up this summer after being whittled away by the senior stocks in the spring.

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