RETAIL investor appetite for silver in the US market now rivals popular technology trades as flows reach unprecedented levels, said Reuters citing a report by Vanda Research.
Individual investors purchased a net $171m of iShares Silver Trust on Monday, almost double the $93m daily record during the 2021 silver squeeze when Reddit investors drove GameStop and silver prices higher, the report said.
Ashwin Bhakre, head of product at Vanda Research, said the surge in silver was more intense than artificial intelligence trades, with iShares Silver Trust turnover running at over 11 times normal levels compared with Nvidia’s roughly sevenfold increase.
Combined retail and institutional trading pushed iShares Silver Trust volumes to several times that of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF this month, according to LSEG data.
Some investors wagered against the rally, with ProShares Ultrashort Silver ETF, which tracks twice the inverse of a silver index, recording activity about four times above usual levels, Vanda said.
The retail frenzy extended to mining equities, with Hecla Mining and Coeur Mining reaching the top 50 most actively traded stocks, according to Vanda.
Silver prices have tripled over the past year to exceed $100 an ounce, driven by retail speculation, momentum buying and persistent physical supply shortages, said Reuters.
