Author: Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily

Silver, a precious metal once known as "the poor man's gold," is sweeping across global markets like a storm. The reason is none other than its terrifyingly rapid rise.

Recently, silver prices briefly broke through $117 per ounce, setting a new all-time high. This means that since the peak of the crypto cycle in 2017, silver has officially surpassed Bitcoin's gains (approximately 500%) and gold's gains (slightly less than 300%) with a cumulative increase of approximately 517%. According to data from 8marketcap, silver is currently trading around $110, with a market capitalization of $6.18 trillion, ranking second globally after gold. Such an astonishing performance has naturally sparked market enthusiasm. Besides purchasing silver funds or physical silver through traditional brokerages or brick-and-mortar stores, tokenized silver may also be an option, especially leveraged contracts on trading platforms and on-chain Perp DEX .

Current status of silver tokens: Only 2 tokens have relatively good liquidity.

According to data from Coingecko, the overall market capitalization of tokenized silver is currently around $446 million, with a 24-hour increase of approximately 5.6%. Specifically, the following two silver tokens have relatively good liquidity:

Kinesis Silver (KAG): Market capitalization is currently reported at $406 million.

Like the gold token KAU, the KAG silver token is launched by Kinesis, a UK-based digital asset utility platform registered in the Cayman Islands. Major trading platforms include Kinesis Money, BitMart, and the UAE trading platform Emirex.

It is understood that KAG is backed by a fully insured and regularly audited vault (globally distributed storage), with each token pegged to 1 ounce of investment-grade silver; it supports global real-time payments; it supports physical silver redemption; and there are no storage fees.

Its potential risks are similar to those of Tether, the company that issued the XAUT gold token. The token is highly dependent on the issuer's asset reputation and faces certain regulatory uncertainties. In addition, due to its relatively small market capitalization and limited market depth, market volatility may lead to premiums or discounts, and it relies heavily on trading platforms to manage order matching.

However, according to information from the Coingecko website, KAG's 24-hour trading volume is approximately $5.5 million, making it the second-largest silver token in terms of trading volume.

iShares Silver Trust (SLV): Market capitalization is currently reported at US$39.5 million.

The silver tokens pegged to the iShares Silver Trust, launched by Ondo Finance, hold corresponding physical gold through the BlackRock iShares Silver Trust (SLV) ETF.

Its advantages include tracking regulated traditional SLV ETFs, good liquidity, and support for instant minting or redemption (for users outside the United States); combining the convenience of traditional finance with blockchain; institutional-grade backing; and no need to directly handle physical silver.

Its potential risks include: it relies heavily on the asset reputation of issuers such as BlackRock and Ondo, and cannot support physical ownership or direct redemption of silver; it includes certain ETF fund management fees; trading is restricted for US users, and it faces potential securities regulatory restrictions.

Major trading platforms include centralized exchanges such as Gate, Bitmart, Bitget, and AscendEX.

It's worth mentioning that SLV also supports contract trading, with leverage up to 10x.

According to information from the Coingecko website, SLVON's 24-hour trading volume is approximately $21.2 million, ranking first in the silver token market in terms of trading volume.

Aside from KAG and SLVON, the two major silver tokens, Silver rStock (SLVR) launched by Remora Market, a stock tokenization platform in the Solana ecosystem, and Gram Silver (GRAMS) launched by Token Teknoloji A.Ş, which is pegged to 1 gram of silver, are also spot tokens. However, their market capitalization and liquidity are extremely low, and the price difference between them and physical silver is even greater than that of KAG and SLVON. It is not recommended to participate in their trading.

Silver leveraged trading platforms: Hyperliquid, Binance, Bitget, etc.

Aside from spot silver tokens, many US stock tokenized trading platforms, on-chain Perp DEX, CEX, and DEX have already opened up leveraged contract trading for silver, supporting leverage of up to 20-100x. The following are specific trading platforms for your reference:

Channel 1 – Hyperliquid : The 24-hour trading volume of the Silver/USDC contract trading pair exceeded $1 billion;

Channel Two – Binance , supports leveraged trading of the XAG/USDT pair, with leverage up to 100x. Currently, the 24-hour trading volume is $1.32 billion. According to the official announcement, this trading pair officially opened on January 7th (at that time, the official announcement indicated up to 50x leverage). On the other hand, the latest news indicates that Binance will change the composition of the XAU/USDT gold token contract price index on January 29, 2026.

Channel 3 – Bitget , supports leveraged trading of the XAG/USDT trading pair, with leverage up to 50x. Currently, its 24-hour trading volume is $174 million.

Conclusion: Trump's hawkish policies and preference for interest rate cuts will be the best catalyst for precious metals.

Looking back, the tense international political and economic situation caused by Trump's rise to power, the turbulent tariff and trade war, and the preference for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts were the best catalysts for the rise in precious metal prices. Specifically for silver, in addition to past supply shortages and its status as a key raw material, risk transfer assets and the US attitude were crucial.

J. Safra Sarasin strategist Claudio Wewel points out that the continued surge in silver prices stems from weakened market expectations of a US interest rate cut and silver's newly acquired critical mineral status. The US Department of the Interior added silver to its critical mineral list in November, increasing the likelihood of US tariffs on the metal. He notes that this exacerbates the long-standing supply shortage and prompts US importers to accelerate silver purchases. Meanwhile, retail investors, finding it difficult to purchase gold at historically high prices, are turning to silver as a safe-haven asset.

In other words, the main reason for silver's rise is both its "scarcity" and its "safe-haven" nature. Given the recent renewed tensions in the Middle East, the end of silver's price trend may be far from over.