Silver overtakes bitcoin’s post-2017 gains as price blows past $115

The price of silver surged to a fresh all-time high on Monday, briefly topping $117 per troy ounce before pulling back toward $105 by late U.S. trading, extending a rally that has now eclipsed bitcoin’s gains since the peak of the crypto cycle in late 2017.

Silver was trading near $17 at the end of 2017. Even after Monday's pullback, the metal is still up roughly 517% over that period. Bitcoin, which peaked near $20,000 at the end of 2017 and now trades around $87,700, has gained roughly 500% over the same stretch.

For comparison, gold, which saw its own fresh all-time high of $5,107 per troy ounce on Monday, has gained slightly less than 300% in the same period.

The moves cap an increasingly frenetic session across precious metals markets, with trading volumes exploding in silver-linked exchange-traded funds.

The iShares Silver Trust saw more than $32 billion in turnover on Monday, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data — roughly 15 times its daily average and the highest volume of any security globally.

"Whoa. The volume in the $SLV is $32 billion — by far the most volume of any security on the planet," wrote Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. For comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust traded about $24 billion on the day, while Nvidia and Tesla each saw roughly $16 billion, he added.

Balchunas also pointed to unusually heavy activity across the broader metals complex, with gold and mining ETFs joining silver near the top of global volume rankings. Leveraged silver products were among the most actively traded vehicles as well.

Milestone bias

Analysts say the surge reflects a powerful momentum trade colliding with psychological price levels.

"This morning, investors are reckoning with a new reality as gold hits $5,000 for the first time in history, while silver has topped $100," said Nic Puckrin, co-founder of Coin Bureau. "Behavioural investing theory tells us investors have a bias toward such milestones, and that's likely amplifying the move."

Puckrin said the precious metals rally has been building for months and may still have room to run, particularly as retail investors begin to chase the trend.

He added that while dollar weakness has played a role, the U.S. dollar index is down more than 15% from its 2022 peak, structural demand tied to the AI build-out is also feeding silver consumption, alongside copper and other industrial metals used in data centres, chips, and power grids.

Bitcoin muted

The divergence has been especially stark for crypto markets, which have struggled to attract similar momentum.

Bitcoin slid toward $87,000 over the weekend as broader risk-off sentiment weighed on digital assets, with U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recording roughly $1.7 billion in outflows over five straight sessions.

"While metals extend their extraordinary surge, bitcoin and digital assets continue to lag," Puckrin said, adding that prolonged weakness below the $100,000 level risks further downside momentum in the near term, even if a new all-time high later this year remains possible.

"While a new all-time high this year still isn't out of the question," he added, "the next 30 days will be crucial in determining whether a bear market is already here."