Photographer: Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg
Photographer: Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg
Silver rose at the start of the week, with futures surpassing $ 29 an ounce in minutes, as the Reddit-inspired frenzy that swept the stock markets last week spilled over into commodities.
The extraordinary spike came after there were retail sites overwhelmed by the demand for bars and coins over the weekend. Points of sale, including Apmex, Walmart’s North American precious metal products, have said they cannot process orders until Asian markets open due to unprecedented consumption.
“It was crazy – over the weekend we saw about three weeks of accounts opening in just a few days,” said John Feeney, business development manager at Guardian Vaults in Sydney. “Silver rose at the opening this morning as the entire volume over the weekend hit the market.”
Silver futures are almost over 6% higher last week, after a jump on Thursday and Friday amid Reddit-style enthusiasm from hordes of retail investors. Unlike beaten stocks targeted on the capital market, inclusive GameStop Corp., silver has had good results in the last year, gathering more than 50% as the dollar fell and expectations for a global recovery from the pandemic.
The most active futures gained 8.7% to $ 29.25 per ounce on Comex, the highest price in September, and traded at $ 28,855 at 7:51 in Singapore. Futures gold rose up 1.1% to $ 1,870 an ounce
“Given that there are a lot of retail investors who are interested and aware of this story – and are likely to be motivated and engaged – the price could go up,” said Nicholas Frappell, global general manager at ABC Bullion in Sydney.
Comments on silver started appearing on the Reddit r / wallstreetbets forum last week. People began to get involved with each other to pile in iShares Silver Trust, the largest metal-traded product, said banks had kept silver prices artificially low, masking a real supply shortfall.
However, some of the largest banks on Wall Street have been positive about the silver outlook in recent months, amid a surge in commodity growth. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. described it as the “favorite precious metal,” according to a Jan. 27 note that had a target price of $ 30 an ounce.
In addition, money managers have had a net position in silver since mid-2019, according to futures data and options from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. During the week until January 26, net-bullish bets on metal were at a maximum of three weeks.
Silver is usually more volatile than its sister metal, much more expensive, gold, often with strong price fluctuations. In addition to its role as a speculative asset and valuable stock, it has industrial uses, including in solar panels.
– With the assistance of Jake Lloyd-Smith, Matt Turner, Yvonne Yue Li, Ranjeetha Pakiam and James Thornhill