Silver has recovered in recent trading sessions amid users’ attention on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum. A worker filled a mold with molten silver at a factory in Russia in 2017.
Photograph:
Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg News
Silver prices rose to the start of trading week on Sunday, fueled by a wave of new enthusiasm from online traders.
The most actively traded silver futures rose 8% from Friday’s close, before slightly reducing gains to recently trade up 7% at $ 28.80 a troy ounce. Sunday night’s rise comes after silver prices rose more than 5% last week.
Silver recovered in recent trading sessions after users of Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum posted about executing a “short squeeze” similar to those credited for fueling recent gains in other popular Internet stocks. Reducing the attention of day traders has generated significant gains in stocks such as GameStop Corp.
GME 67.87%
, captivating Wall Street as individual investors contract hedge funds that bet on falling prices.
The attention of day traders is the latest factor in silver prices, which have been trading in a range since they achieved record performance in 2020, ending the year up 47%. Silver benefited from a sharp rise in precious metals, which raised the price of everything from gold to palladium to record highs. Investors tend to buy precious metals such as silver when they are concerned with the possibility of holding riskier assets, such as stocks or corporate bonds.
Even physical metal, which is used in everything from electronics to jewelry, is beginning to see a noticeable increase in demand as a result of Redditors’ attention. Silver retail markets, including Money Metals and APMEX Inc., among others, posted notices on their websites on Sunday saying they could not process new orders until global markets were opened due to unprecedented demand for the metal.
Write to Sebastian Pellejero at [email protected]
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