Price of Silver Surges as Rebel Traders Zero In

The same group of traders who sent prices of GameStop soaring last week is now pulling a similar move with silver, reports CNN. Silver futures rose 11% Monday to about $30 an ounce, which the AP reports is an eight-year high. Meanwhile, the phrase "#silversqueeze" was trending, a reference to the "short squeeze" maneuver being pushed by many in the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit. The phenomenon was spilling over into tangible sales of silver bars and coins, with retail sites warning customers they can't keep up with demand. In the case of silver, members of the WallStreetBets forum say the move is a way to punish big banks, which they allege have been artificially suppressing prices of the precious metal for years.

There's some skepticism about that, and a faction of the Reddit forum wants traders to stay focused on GameStop, notes Business Insider. It gets more convoluted: Some in the forum theorize the silver squeeze is bogus and is being engineered by the same hedge funds losing big on GameStop. Still, big names such as the Winklevoss twins are in full support. "The #silversqueeze is a rage against the machine," Tyler Winklevoss tweeted. "If silver market is proven to be fraudulent, you better believe gold market will be next," added Cameron Winklevoss. Uncertainty in the gold market could theoretically give a boost to Bitcoin, in which the twins have a huge stake. The Wall Street Journal reports that analysts figured it was "inevitable" for the day traders to move into other areas after having such big success with stocks such as GameStop and AMC theaters. (More silver stories.)