A growing wave of online retail traders is treating gold and silver the way they once treated GameStop and AMC—high conviction, heavy call options, and nonstop chatter on Reddit.
Over the past 12 hours heading into Tuesday’s session, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) were the most mentioned and most positively mentioned tickers on r/WallStreetBets, according to SwaggyStocks.
JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain, who tracks retail flow data, reports that net buying of commodity ETFs hit $163.1 million as of 4 p.m. Monday—placing it in the 98th percentile compared to the past year. That followed flows in the 90th percentile on Friday and nearly the 80th percentile on Thursday.
Options data is just as aggressive:
- The five-day average call volume in GLD just hit an all-time high.
- SLV call volume is at its highest level since 2021.
- The 14-day RSI on SLV is at its highest since 2020.
- GLD has closed with an RSI above 70—“overbought” territory—in 29 of the past 30 trading sessions. That’s the longest stretch since the ETF launched in 2004.
What It Signals
Gold and silver are traditionally the trades people flock to when everything is falling apart. But right now, they’re being bid up at the same time as:
- AI-linked stocks remain near record highs
- Oklo—an unprofitable nuclear startup—is surging
- Quantum computing names are ripping higher
Instead of caution, the action in precious metals looks more like part of a broader speculative boom.
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