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Retail traders just dumped $430 million into silver trades while the price was crashing. In six trading days, they loaded up on SLV, the biggest silver ETF on the market.
This happened while the metal’s price fell from $121 to as low as $64 before crawling back to $78. Most of those gains from earlier this year? Gone.
Vanda Research tracked the inflows and showed that over $100 million was added on January 30, the same day silver crashed 27% in a single session.
That was the biggest one-day drop the metal has ever seen. Retail investors weren’t scared off. They kept buying like nothing happened.
Retail traders buy SLV while silver crashes
Rhona O’Connell from StoneX said the wild drop made it more appealing to retail buyers. “People are being attracted by the sex appeal of the thing,” she said. She also said the “monumental sell-off” gave some traders the feeling they were getting a bargain.
Prices hit $64 a troy ounce on Friday after falling hard. That was a long way down from the $121 high in January. After hitting bottom, it bounced back up to $78, but still way below where it started. O’Connell said emotions had taken over. “It’s feeding upon itself,” she said. The crash made the buying more aggressive.
This wild trading came after a massive rally last year. Precious metals spiked after chaotic decisions from President Donald Trump, starting with trade fights and later more drama around Greenland, Iran, and the Fed. These events pushed traders toward silver and gold, first as safe bets, then as straight-up gambling.
At the beginning of 2025, silver was trading under $30. It more than quadrupled before crashing. Gold also soared from $2,600 to nearly $5,600, then dropped back under $5,000.
Trump’s Fed pick triggered the reversal across metals
The turning point was January 30. That was when Trump picked Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve. Traders no longer believed the Fed would be pressured into cutting rates hard. Once that fear went away, the demand for haven assets started to dry up fast.
During the rally, both metals caught fire with retail and speculative traders. But silver was the one with more chaos.
This week was wild. Prices dropped 6% Monday, jumped 7% Tuesday, fell nearly 20% Thursday, then swung again Friday, falling 10% early before ending the day up 9.5%. Most professional funds backed off. They have rules and margin limits. But retail traders kept going.
Vanda said many traders were pulling cash from gold ETFs, but not silver. SLV kept seeing inflows even when prices collapsed. No net selling.
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