This round of precious metals market is indeed gaining momentum. The silver market is especially eye-catching—Comex silver futures surged by 11% last night, and the spot silver weekly increase has reached 18%, making short sellers' days quite difficult. Palladium is even more exaggerated, with Nymex palladium soaring by 14%, and the PALL ETF( rising by 12%; platinum is also not idle, with Nymex up over 11%, and spot prices surging to $2455 per ounce, while spot palladium approaches $2000. If this upward trend continues, several varieties are expected to redefine the landscape of precious metals.

In comparison, gold has performed relatively flat this year. A 72% annual increase sounds impressive, but in the context of the entire precious metals sector, it seems a bit awkward—platinum up 177%, silver 172%, palladium 122%, gold has indeed been left far behind.

Can industrial demand explain this rally? Unlikely. The global annual silver production is only 27,000 tons, and the consumption in the photovoltaic and new energy vehicle sectors by 2026 is estimated at just 23,000 tons, so there is no supply-demand gap. The real driving force comes from the investment side. Global silver investment demand has already exceeded 40,000 tons, with demand across spot, futures, and jewelry sectors all competing for supplies. Looking at exchange inventories makes it clear: London stocks have fallen below 4,000 tons, Comex has only 14,000 tons left, and domestic inventories are at a 7-year low, only 715 tons. Under tight supply conditions, shorts simply cannot gather enough deliverable spot supplies, and are forced to buy at high prices or close their positions.