Silver once again moved above $50, claiming the top spot as the top appreciating trade of 2025. The precious metal moved ahead of gold and BTC again, driven by speculative interest.
Silver is up over 58% in the year to date, surpassing the climb of both gold and BTC. Spot silver traded at $50.23, displacing BTC from its top asset position for the second time this year.
Historically, BTC has surpassed traditional asset classes. However, in 2025, there are expectations that precious metals can come up on top. A speculative silver rally, arriving in Q4, could change the balance of top earners for 2025.
BTC shrank its net gains in the year-to-date down to 30%, trading at above $105,000. Crypto has shown hope that a slowdown in precious metals could lead to more liquidity for digital assets. However, silver’s ongoing strength may delay the shift to crypto assets.
Silver bullion storage reaches nine-year peak
Demand for silver led to record inflows in London’s vaults. Reserves grew to a nine-year high, for now calming the fears of shortages. Previously, silver deliveries saw a squeeze, further boosting the previous price hike above $54 per ounce.
London vaults added 54M troy ounces of silver in October based on increased demand. London deliveries accumulated after global arbitrage opportunities, as prices of bullion diverged. The inflows followed a recent all-time low for silver inventories in London.
October was marked by a wave of physical demand in India, as well as spot buying for silver ETFs. At the same time, traders withdrew silver from vaults in the US and China, and deposited it to London’s storage. The accumulation shows the arbitrage has worked, leaving the London market with sufficient supply.
Despite the increased availability, silver still showed growth potential. The metal reacted as gold returned to over $4,100 per ounce.
Will precious metals cool off?
Silver is a special case, as the metal has awaited a breakout for years. The metal is considered suppressed, setting expectations for a run to a higher range.
Despite this, precious metals ran on a mix of hype and talks of a ‘debasement trade’. Both gold and silver are expected to cool off from their hype-driven rally, but to continue the climb at a more sustainable pace.
Silver is hardly represented as a tokenized asset, and has not caused hype for creating new digital assets based on the metal. In the short term, traders expect extreme volatility due to the relatively low price of silver. The metal has been accumulated in physical form and is a staple of long-term investors, but traders may have a significantly higher risk. Just like digital assets, sometimes the winners are those who hold for the long term.
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