Silver prices rallied to start the trading week Sunday, fueled by a wave of fresh enthusiasm from online traders.
Most actively traded silver futures SI00, 11.41% rose as much 8% from Friday’s close before paring gains slightly to recently trade up 7% at $28.80 a troy ounce. Sunday night’s rally comes after silver prices gained more than 5% last week.
Silver has rallied in recent trading sessions after users on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum posted about executing a “short squeeze” similar to ones credited with fueling recent gains in other stocks popular on the internet. Outsize attention from day traders has powered significant gains in stocks such as GameStop Corp. GME, +67.87% , captivating Wall Street as individual investors take on hedge funds that are betting on prices to fall.
Attention from day traders is the latest driver for silver prices, which have traded in a range since notching a record performance in 2020, finishing the year up 47%. Silver benefited from a booming rally in precious metals that sent prices on everything from gold to palladium to record highs. Investors tend to buy precious metals such as silver when they are nervous about holding riskier assets such as stocks or corporate bonds.