Silver surges as Reddit army targets precious metals

Flip_flop_politics
Published on Feb 1, 2021
Move over GameStop, Reddit mania is spreading to the precious metals market.

Silver futures surged as much as 13% to Monday, touching five-month highs. That follows a 6% rally last week.
Meanwhile, retail sites warned customers over the weekend they could not meet skyrocketing demand for silver bars and coins. And "#silversqueeze" is trending on Twitter.
In more recent trading, silver futures were up almost 11%. Shares of precious metals miner Coeur Mining (CDE) rallied 20% in premarket trading, while Pan Am Silver (PAAS) rose 15%.
The moves provide another example of the power of a group that has captivated Wall Street and Main Street: WallStreetBets. The Reddit forum sent GameStop (GME), AMC (AMC) and other heavily shorted stocks skyrocketing last week, roiling markets and crushing some hedge funds that had bet against those stocks. Robinhood, the free-trading app, came under fire after restricting trades in GameStop and other stocks.
People on WallStreetBets set their sights on silver and the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) last week, with some suggesting it could be a way to hurt big banks they believe are artificially suppressing prices.
"SLV will destroy the biggest banks, not just some little hedge funds," one WallStreetBets user wrote.
Another claimed JPMorgan Chase has been "suppressing metals for a long time. This should be epic. LOAD UP."
Several noted that JPMorgan (JPM) paid a record $920 million fine last year to settle charges that it engaged in manipulative trades of futures tied to precious metals as well as Treasuries.
However, some posts on WallStreetBets suggested their movement is being co-opted by hedge funds and there is no coordinated effort in the silver market.
"The Silver Squeeze is a hedge-fund coordinated attack so they can keep fighting the $GME fight," one thread was titled.
The post said that buying silver "would be a tragic, irreversible decision that not only will most likely not make you any money because the squeeze is fake, it will put you on the sidelines from this righteous and glorious war we are in."
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