Retail Focus Shifts to Silver and Gold as Social Buzz Overtakes Crypto

Retail attention has shifted away from crypto and toward precious metals like Silver this month, according to data from market intelligence firm Santiment. Social media discussions around gold and silver have outpaced crypto on most days in January as prices for both metals moved sharply higher.

Sanbase data shared by Santiment shows gold discussion surged during the second week of January as prices pushed to fresh highs. Between Jan. 8 and Jan. 18, gold dominated social traffic across major platforms.

Interest briefly moved back to crypto in the third week of January. From Jan. 19 to Jan. 22, crypto became the top topic as traders attempted to buy during a pullback. That window closed quickly as silver prices accelerated again and pulled attention back to metals.

Silver was also the most discussed asset group between Jan. 1 and Jan. 6.

Silver Rally Pulls Retail Traders In

Silver prices hit a new all time high above $117 on Tuesday, as per the data by TradingView. Social activity surged at the same time, with Santiment noting a sharp rise in retail chatter.

Analysts warned that this type of attention often lines up with short term tops. They pointed to Tuesday’s price action as an example. Silver jumped above $117.70, then dropped below $102.70 within two hours as retail interest peaked. The metal later recovered and was trading near $113 on Wednesday.

Santiment said retail traders often chase fast moves, and that behavior has now expanded beyond crypto into metals and equities.

Crypto Still Holds Search Interest

While social media discussions favored metals, Google Trends data tells a more balanced story. Over the past seven days, searches for crypto peaked at a score of 100 on Jan. 21. Interest dipped to 61 on Saturday before rising again to 93 on Monday. As of Wednesday, crypto searches stood at 82.

Top related queries included “best crypto,” “what is crypto,” and “crypto price.”

Bitcoin search activity followed a similar pattern. Bitcoin reached a peak score of 100 on Monday and a low of 58 on Sunday. Related searches focused on “Bitcoin price” and “Bitcoin USD.” Current interest stands at 86.

Silver search interest peaked at 100 on Jan. 22 and fell to 46 on Sunday. As of Wednesday, silver scored 68. Popular queries included “silver price” and “silver price today.”