Silver experienced intense volatility over the weekend, surging for 70 minutes before sharply retreating. The market is betting on rate cuts in 2026 amid geopolitical signals, prompting capital to shift from Bitcoin to tangible precious metals.
(Background: Google searches for “cryptocurrency” plummeted to a low, with silver emerging as a new safe haven)
(Additional context: Elon Musk rarely comments on silver’s rally, warning of supply chain risks: “This is not good.”)

Table of Contents

• Powell’s term countdown, market bets on 2026 rate cuts
• Geopolitical tensions and low inventories: dual signals amplify volatility
• Bitcoin absent from the party, risk appetite shifts to tangible assets

If readers are slightly inattentive during the last weekend of December, they might miss the most dramatic price movements of 2025: silver futures opened in New York on Sunday evening and within less than 70 minutes surged 6% to a historic high of $84, then immediately dropped 10% back to the $75 range.

Such unprecedented wild swings have even left veteran traders stunned. Market communication The Kobeissi Letter posted on X bluntly:

“This is absolute madness. Silver’s performance within an hour makes cryptocurrencies look stable.”

Short-term liquidity ignited by large automated orders, combined with algorithmic chasing, along with safe-haven buying, pushed silver to historic highs; profit-taking and insurance-driven sell-offs then flooded in, causing a flash crash. This kind of script has often occurred with meme coins in the past, but now it appears in a precious metal with a 4,000-year trading history, indicating that silver trading logic is increasingly “crypto-like.”

Powell’s term countdown, market bets on 2026 rate cuts

The rally is driven not only by technical factors. On a macro level, Fed Chair Powell’s term ends in 2026, and investors expect President Trump might nominate a more dovish successor, paving the way for low interest rates. According to CME FedWatch, futures markets imply at least two rate cuts. Low rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets, prompting funds to shift into silver and gold to hedge against future debt expansion and currency devaluation risks.

Gold also hit a high of $4,530 over the weekend, but in terms of momentum and volatility indicators, silver is clearly more favored by short-term traders, and its nickname “the devil’s metal” has been recalled by the market.

Geopolitical tensions and low inventories: dual signals amplify volatility

Fundamentals are not absent, but their role is more like a catalyst. Fortune reported that last Friday, U.S. military operations in Nigeria and escalating Venezuela tensions boosted safe-haven buying; however, FXStreet reported that after positive progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks on Sunday, the war premium was quickly stripped away, triggering a sharp price decline.

On the supply-demand side, Shanghai Silver Exchange inventories fell to about 715 tons, the lowest since 2016. Meanwhile, global demand for conductive materials for solar panels and AI electronics remains strong, creating structural tightness in physical silver. This “industrial blood” role provides long-term support and explains why prices, despite the sharp drop, remain near historic highs.

Bitcoin absent from the party, risk appetite shifts to tangible assets

Unlike the passion for silver, Bitcoin (BTC) has been nearly flat over the past 30 days, retreating about 25% from its October high of $120,000. During this period of increased influence of the Trump administration and uncertainty over Fed policy shifts, investors view BTC as a high-beta risk asset correlated with U.S. stocks rather than a traditional safe haven.

Funds are thus flowing into tangible precious metals. Silver is not only assigned “digital asset-level” volatility but also benefits from industrial demand and liquidity, making it the top choice for institutional portfolio adjustments. Weekend market movements may just be a prelude: under the interplay of low interest rate expectations, geopolitical turbulence, and tight supply, silver’s high volatility could become the new normal before 2026.

Looking back at this trend, the boundary between traditional assets and crypto markets is being blurred by sentiment and liquidity. Silver, with its 4,000-year history, proves it can be as wild as Bitcoin but also provide a bottom line through physical scarcity. As investors adjust their bets on interest rates and political risks, the next sharp volatility may no longer be surprising—only a matter of time.