Silver prices completed one of the most dramatic single-day reversals in years on Monday, surging to a record high above $117 before plummeting more than 15% in a matter of hours.

The violent swing erased approximately $900 billion in market value in just 90 minutes, according to data cited by financial commentary account The Kobeissi Letter.

The event illustrates how retail trader attention, including from the crypto community, has pivoted toward traditional assets like precious metals, often at the most volatile moments.

Silver’s Rapid Rise Pulls in Retail as Volatility Spikes

Data shared by Santiment earlier today shows how trader attention has shifted week by week in January, moving from crypto to gold and then to silver as prices ran higher. In a post on X, the analytics firm said silver’s break to new highs coincided with a burst of retail discussion, a pattern it says often lines up with short-term tops.

That timing matched the market. Silver climbed to nearly $118 before sliding to around $103 in less than two hours, a move that erased most of the day’s gains before a partial rebound toward $110.

The Kobeissi Letter described the scale of the swings as extreme, saying silver’s market cap swung by almost $2 trillion in roughly 14 hours, including a $900 billion drop in just 90 minutes. Meanwhile, trader Mark Chadwick compared that figure to about 72% of the entire altcoin market cap, arguing that such speed shows how quickly speculative money can move.

First-hand accounts also pointed to retail heat, with analyst Checkmate saying they sold physical silver after seeing parabolic charts and fielding repeated questions on how to buy. The market watcher described long lines of excited buyers at a dealer and noted the experience was slower and less flexible than selling BTC, even as spreads remained wide.

What the Move Says About Bitcoin and Risk Sentiment

The rush into silver unfolded at a time when BTC was trading around $88,000, up about 0.6% over 24 hours but down roughly 3.6% during the week and 12% over the past year. The OG cryptocurrency has held a tight range between $87,000 and $89,000 as broader crypto markets remain cautious.

Some analysts, like CryptoQuant contributor GugaOnChain, have framed this split as part of a wider risk-off mood. According to them, a weak dollar does not always support Bitcoin, especially when investors focus on capital preservation rather than returns. In that setting, money has flowed into long-established stores of value like gold and silver instead of crypto.

Opinions have differed on social media regarding what that means for Bitcoin. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju wrote that gold, silver, and BTC all function as risk-off assets, adding that if markets still treat Bitcoin as risk-on, then it may be undervalued. Others, like author Vijay Boyapati, said rising gold prices are expanding Bitcoin’s long-term addressable market rather than threatening it.

For now, though, the silver episode shows how quickly crowd attention can flip, and how volatile those trades can become once retail piles in.

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