Let's be honest: for every story published about a new millionaire minted by the GameStop and AMC fiasco, there were twice as many people on the losing side of the trade. Steep declines off GameStop's $400+ peak have arguably hurt more people than the short-lived gains helped.
This week, participants on online forums suggested that a buying spree of silver could generate big GameStop-like gains, and while there was a short-term rally in iShares Silver Trust, the ETF is now flat for the year.
Bottom line: creating a short squeeze in silver is impossible. In order to create a GameStop-like income in the commodity, an investor would need to hold large quantities of the metal. Most retail investors don't have any, and would have a challenging time building up a position -- given the $50 billion market for coins, bars, and other silver investments -- and given restrictions on the size of positions that retail investors can take.
Predictably, the rally didn't last very long, and shares of silver producers are plummeting. First Majestic Silver shares have fallen over -20% and Hecla Mining is off nearly as much. My advice to retail investors as more of these online forum-driven trade ideas pop-up: steer clear.
If you want to invest in silver, take a look at Artificial Intelligence driven analysis and trade ideas (below). Don't get advice from Reddit.