And Why is Everyone Talking About It?
You may have been seeing the silver market discussed in the news lately. Big things have happened in the market that will affect all of our futures. Many people are missing the importance.
Here is What Happened
There was a major disruption amongst the biggest players in the silver market over the Christmas to New Year’s week, often called “ghost week”. Trading of physical silver was low in volume but big things still happened.
First, JP Morgan squeezed out the little players, going from a short position to a long position. It means they went from being heavily invested in paper promises of silver, to owning more actual physical silver than anyone else. It’s almost like they created an instant monopoly of the physical silver market. They secretly bought up mass amounts of the real metal, while dumping the paper promises, switching their position. The significance is, if you now own more physical silver than is traded on the COMEX, you basically have control of the COMEX. JP Morgan can almost set the price. Now, they no longer wish the price to stay down to cover their paper promises. It’s better for them if the market goes UP. They WANT physical silver to be in demand and see a rise in prices. The past downward manipulation appears over.
Second, new industry rules and restrictions have begun squeezing out the smaller banks to protect the system.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which manages a portion of the risk management for the market, has set new margin requirements ($25,000 per contract) that many banks can’t afford. Especially since most banks are now holding and trading paper promises of silver, not the precious metal itself, they have been priced out of the system overnight. If they can’t meet the new minimums, they must stop all silver trading, putting themselves instantly out of business. The JP Morgan position flip made these new margins necessary and work in their favor.
Third, China (to protect themselves and their industrial needs) has introduced export restrictions on silver as of January 1, 2026. China has also been stockpiling the physical precious metal.
Fourth, industrial demand for silver is increasing. Solar panels, EV’s, AI data centers, and battery factories all need large quantities of silver for production. This problem won’t ease, demand will instead increase, and prices will increase.
All of these events happening together had a combined impact on the market. First, silver spiked high around Christmas after the JP Morgan flip from the short to the long position. Paper silver to physical silver. Then, the CME margin hike had a reactionary downturn that Monday. It didn’t solve the problem, but it did create the LOOK of a reaction to the previous day’s run up. The run to $83 per ounce was unprecedented and people were waiting for a reaction.
What ultimately had the biggest impact on the Monday market was an alleged 1.4 BILLION dollars worth of paper silver contracts that were sold to eager “silver” buyers. It looks like an increase in supply, but it’s the opposite. They didn’t buy silver, just a paper promise that is more likely to be paid out in dollars than actual silver. It compounds the problem while creating the look of a downward dip in the market. The Monday down day was totally expected and in our past.
The silver market recovered in just one day and now appears on its way to exponential growth. Tuesday the silver market was up over $4 an ounce and the entire market share increased by 5.68% to $76.23 per Troy ounce.
The growth in silver is projected to be bigger in 2026 because of the combination of these ghost week activities. The effects are ALREADY apparent. Silver has now overtaken Apple in market cap. There are more assets in worldwide silver than in Apple stocks. The record highs in the silver market spot price will likely continue regardless of how the US or global economies are doing. It’s actually an indicator that the US dollar is dying.
If a new currency appears, silver doesn’t disappear like the old dollar does. It’s still money and will be revalued when the new currency is established. Silver values don’t decrease with a currency change over. It IS what it IS. Its value didn’t die with the other currency. Silver is a more stable “currency”, so its perceived value increases with the instability of the other currencies. People want more of it because they don’t know what will happen with that other unbacked currency. So physical silver is safe even when a currency is dying.
Keep watching the trends in the silver market. Keep what you have, if you have any, and don’t buy any promises of paper silver. The industry needs real silver, not promises.
