According to a report released by Vanda Research on Thursday, retail investors are purchasing silver at such a rapid pace that it has become the most crowded commodity trade in the market. Vanda calculated that, in just the past 30 days, retail investors have bought $921.8 million worth of silver-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), such as the iShares Silver Trust. The fund recorded $69.2 million in retail inflows on Wednesday alone, marking the largest single-day inflow of retail buying, second only to 2021 when retail investors briefly drove up silver prices. The ETF has risen 31.3% year-to-date and has surged a staggering 210.9% over the past 12 months. The price of silver has also repeatedly hit new record highs. By late afternoon on Thursday in the US, silver was trading at $91.90 per ounce, which, according to LSEG data, is significantly higher than the $72.62 at the start of the year, though slightly below the record highs exceeding $93 reached during Wednesday and Thursday's trading sessions. Meanwhile, the MSCI ACWI Select Silver Miners Investable Index, which tracks the share prices of mining companies whose stocks are particularly sensitive to changes in metal prices, has soared approximately 225% over the past 12 months. The 2021 silver bull market was part of a broader retail speculative frenzy at the time, which was primarily focused on meme stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment. However, Vanda suggests that the current rally is backed by more concrete reasons. "This is not a fleeting hype; we are witnessing a structural accumulation that has already surpassed the peak of the 2021 'silver squeeze'," Vanda noted. The firm added that this means silver should now be considered a "core macro trade asset," rather than just a speculative investment, and pointed out that retail investors are also major participants in the ProShares UltraSilver ETF, a leveraged inverse fund that offers twice the return of any daily decline in silver prices. Others are more cautious. "Invesco's Head of Alternative ETF Strategy, Casey Kriskie, stated, "We waited 45 years for silver to break $50 per ounce, and now in less than three months, it has soared past $80."
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