Gold and Silver Explode: Historic Rally Adds $16 Trillion to Combined Market Cap
Precious metals just rewired the global wealth map in a single year.
The New Hard Money
Forget incremental gains. The surge in gold and silver wasn't a gentle climb—it was a tectonic shift in asset allocation. A combined $16 trillion flooded into these age-old stores of value, signaling a mass migration of capital. That number isn't just big; it's a statement.
Decoding the Flight to Safety
What triggers a move of this magnitude? It's the ultimate vote of no confidence. When digital volatility meets geopolitical instability, investors don't hedge with complex derivatives—they reach for the physical. This rally bypassed traditional equity markets and cut straight to the core of portfolio strategy.
The Inflation Hedge That Actually Worked
While central bankers debated lagging indicators, metals acted. They served their historic purpose, preserving purchasing power as fiat currencies faced their perennial stress test. The move highlights a timeless truth in finance: when promises falter, people return to what they can hold.
One cynical take? Wall Street spent decades engineering complex products to manage risk, yet when the pressure mounted, the world simply bought more of the shiny stuff we've used for millennia. Sometimes the oldest tech in the vault is the most disruptive.
China tightens silver exports as price hits $85 in Shanghai
Silver is up 175% this year, running on an 8-month winning streak, something we haven’t seen since 1980. Just this month, silver prices are up 41%, heading for their best month since December 1979.
The Shanghai price is now $85/oz, which is $5 higher than US spot prices and came right before president Xi Jinping’s new export rules kick in for 2026. These rules will force companies to get special government licenses before shipping silver out of the country. And now, everyone’s watching Shanghai as buyers rush in before the controls hit.
In Q3 2025, the People’s Bank of China bought 118 tonnes, up 39% month-over-month and 55% compared to last year, though according to Goldman Sachs, China is “hiding” the real numbers.
They officially said they bought +15 tonnes in September, but the actual number was closer to 10 times that. So far this year, China claims it’s bought 24 tonnes, but Goldman says the real total is probably closer to 240 tonnes.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin is down 6% in 2025. It was up 40% earlier this year, then tanked. Leverage killed it. The whole crypto market got wrecked and Cryptopolitan cannot tell you what 2026 might hold for the OG crypto. We all will have to just wait and see.
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