Social media discussions about silver and gold have outpaced crypto on most days this month as retail investors have latched onto a recent rise in precious metal prices, according to market intelligence platform Santiment.
Gold discussion erupted in the second week of January as the metal hit new highs, and dominated social traffic between Jan. 8 and Jan. 18, according to Sanbase data shared in an X post from Santiment on Tuesday.
The third week of January saw interest briefly return to crypto as traders attempted to “try to buy dip on the way down,” with crypto topping social media discussions between Jan. 19 and Jan. 22.
However, interest in silver has now spiked again as the precious metal hit new all-time highs, according to Santiment. Silver was also the most talked about between Jan. 1 and Jan. 6.
“Cryptocurrency traders are well known for jumping between different sectors within digital assets based on the latest & greatest hype cycles, eg, memecoins vs AI vs blue chips, etc,” Santiment’s analysts said.
Silver and gold tend to dominate social media discussion during sharp price rallies. Source: Santiment“But now, retail is proving to be open to jumping sectors entirely, with social data showing how gold, silver, and even equities are getting more and more interest based on wherever the latest pumps appear,” they added.
Silver interest could mean a top: Santiment
Silver prices have been on the rise and hit a new all-time high of just over $117 on Tuesday, according to TradingView.
However, Santiment analysts said the interest and resulting fear of missing out (FOMO) among retail traders generally means a top is near.
“Case in point was today, when silver set records by surging above $117.70 and then falling back down below $102.70 just two hours later after retail hype peaked,” they said.
Silver is currently trading for around $113 as of Wednesday.
Google Trends shows crypto is ahead today
Meanwhile, Google Trends shows that over the last seven days, searches for crypto peaked at 100 on Jan. 21, then fluctuated between a low of 61 on Saturday and a second high of 93 on Monday.
Phrases such as “best crypto,” along with “what is crypto” and “crypto price,” were among the top five related queries. As of Wednesday, it has a score of 82.
Related: Silver’s wild 6% price spike and 10% plunge mirrors crypto volatility
In the same time frame, Bitcoin (BTC) had its highest search interest on Monday when it scored 100, and its lowest on Sunday with a 58. Among the top five related queries were phrases such as “Bitcoin price” and “Bitcoin USD.” It’s currently at 86.
In comparison, silver recorded its highest search interest on Jan. 22 at 100, and its lowest on Sunday at 46. Some of its top related queries were “Silver price” and “Silver price today.” It had a score of 68 on Wednesday.
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Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/retail-traders-shift-crypto-to-silver-hype?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound
