Retail participation in silver markets has accelerated markedly, with individual investors concentrating large sums into the iShares Silver Trust. Vanda Research reported that on Monday retail net purchases of the fund totaled about $171 million - almost twice the $93 million one-day high recorded in 2021 during the period when coordinated retail activity drove sharp moves in GameStop and silver.
Vanda's head of product, Ashwin Bhakre, said: "The chase in silver is now more intense than the classic AI trade." The analytics firm added that turnover in the iShares Silver Trust was running at more than 11 times its normal pace, surpassing the roughly sevenfold jump observed in Nvidia turnover over the same comparative window.
Data from LSEG indicated that combined retail and institutional interest has elevated iShares Silver Trust volumes to several times that of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust this month. That shift in trading volume reflects a concentrated focus on silver instruments rather than on the broad-market ETF that typically commands enormous liquidity.
Not all market participants are positioned for further gains. Vanda noted that the ProShares Ultrashort Silver ETF - which seeks to provide twice the inverse return of a silver index - experienced trading activity around four times higher than usual, signaling notable retail appetite for bets that silver prices could reverse.
The retail buying spree has extended into equities tied to the metal. Vanda reported that mining companies such as Hecla Mining and Coeur Mining climbed into the ranks of the 50 most actively traded names, underscoring how flow concentration in silver has spilled over into the mining sector.
Price action in silver over the past year has been dramatic: silver prices tripled, rising above $100 an ounce. Vanda and market commentary attributed that advance to a combination of retail speculation, momentum-driven purchases and ongoing shortages in physical supply. Those three forces were cited as contributors to the price increase rather than as definitive causes.
The recent pattern highlights the extent to which retail flows, momentum dynamics and tight physical inventories can together amplify activity in specific commodity ETFs and related equities. Market participants monitoring liquidity and volatility in precious metals and mining stocks will likely continue to watch ETF flows and short-interest instruments as indicators of shifting market positioning.