[adrian17]

> Here’s the current price of silver. (…) People buy precious metals when they might be worried about the value of fiat currencies, like, I don’t know, the dollar.

My (non-economist) understanding was that the silver price spikes were caused by supply issues (China export restrictions, tariffs) during rising demand (and speculation), and not by a rush to replace fiat? A bit surprised the author didn’t mention that at all.

[Wilsoniumite]

I'm not an economist either and definitely could be wrong, but my understanding of precious metals markets has been that they are mostly driven by speculative pressures rather than demand/supply ones, unlike most other commodities, which is why I framed it that way. Much more gold and silver sits in storage than is mined or used every year, so even a significant relative shift in production/use has little effect on the price.

I have worked close to the trading floor at a financial institution, and there, precious metals are sometimes modeled more as currencies than as commodities for this reason.

It's not necessarily a rush to replace fiat, people just like the idea of a safe asset whos scarcity is secured.