Silver to the moon...Copper next?

[FinneysTrueVision]

Copper did hit an all time high in 2025, but not because of investor demand, like we have seen with gold and silver. The demand is more due to demand from AI data center and electrical infrastructure. The AI boom is especially strong right now.

Any time the price starts going up, I see a lot of stories in the news about people stealing copper. Since it is pretty much everywhere and it’s easy to sell, it is an easy target for criminals.

[GhostRider25]

copper theft has always been a thing, crack heads love it because it's got value and is easy to flip.  that is why you see ac units in cages and stuff, the copper in the condenser coils.
the wires on power lines now, rarely are copper, more often than not transmission and distribution is steel, and to the house is aluminum, because it's cheap.

there is a lot of copper out there in scrap, brass has a big component of copper in it as well, so it 's used extensively in plumbing and electric.

the electric car industry needs big slabs of pure copper for the motors.  people haven't noticed yet but the permeable steel is going to be suddenly very expensive as well, they only run that batch once or twice a year and the demand is far exceeding what recycling is getting them now.  recyclers often don't differentiate it either, just throw in with regular chop/shred so that further diminishes the stock of it.

at one time nickel was worth a bunch, its down a bit but that could change very quickly as well.   the tipping point typically is when the metal is worth more than the coin that's made from it.  when copper went above 154 to 156 a pound, that made recycling pennies, worth more the pennies themselves.  this is another reason for the scarcity you are seeing today, although the garbage today is mostly zinc.   at one time nickel

it takes 91 nickels in the us to make a pound,  that's 4.55 money value, and a nickel is 75 percent copper 25 percent nickle, so doing the math you can see if we get into a situation where nickle is running 12/lb again and copper is pushing 5 to 6 lb, nickels will once again become worth more than a nickel, and cupro nickle scrap will once again'spike' in the scrap yards.

just remember, currently it is illegal to melt coins for recycling so don't be stupid and bring an ingot with 40 little abes looking at you.

just saying
Aaron

[Abiky]

I still have not really understood what is going on with silver... Why did silver increase in price recently? What was the hype about?

It feels memetically manufactured and will either form a bubble and pop or slowly grind down to the last support level. I will continue watching metals as we saw an increase as gold as well. So it is not only about silver.

Why are people hoarding silver and gold?

I think it has to do more about rising geopolitical tensions and inflation fears related to FED's proposed rate cuts. The USD is in a lot of uncertainty right now, adding more fuel to the fire. This has led precious metals such as Gold and Silver to rise towards astronomical levels. Silver's price hike has long been overdue, especially when it remained "stagnant" over the past years. The recent uptrend in market prices is real this time. Of course, I'd expect a market correction in the short term. But the days where Silver used to cost $15 - $30 an ounce are officially over.

I believe the new bottom would be $50 - $70, followed by an increase of $100 an ounce in the long term. Once investors get tired of Silver, they will move their money into Copper. This metal is also used in electronics. Supply is much higher, ofc. But demand might outstrip supply if the hype extends for a prolonged period of time. Surprisingly, Copper had a growth of 43.23% within a year (according to this source: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/copper). Who's to say it won't rise higher by next year? I'd put my money where my mouth is by buying more Copper. It's still "cheap", anyways.

[Creeper0]

Copper is a valuable metal whose use is increasing day by day. Especially in the power industry, electronic devices and alloy manufacturing. Although the demand is increasing due to the continuous supply, the price of copper will not increase rapidly, but it is certain that the price of copper will increase somewhat very soon. The demand for copper may increase relatively this year and next year, on the contrary, copper extraction is not increasing rapidly and the production of some mines is decreasing. Therefore, it is estimated that demand will exceed supply in 2026 and there is a high possibility of price increase due to the shortage of copper.

[Iranus]

I believe the new bottom would be $50 - $70, followed by an increase of $100 an ounce in the long term. Once investors get tired of Silver, they will move their money into Copper. This metal is also used in electronics. Supply is much higher, ofc. But demand might outstrip supply if the hype extends for a prolonged period of time. Surprisingly, Copper had a growth of 43.23% within a year (according to this source: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/copper). Who's to say it won't rise higher by next year? I'd put my money where my mouth is by buying more Copper. It's still "cheap", anyways.

I'm not saying that copper prices have peaked and won't rise next year, because that's the future and nobody knows for sure. But I want to say that, instead of thinking that investors will switch to copper and drive its price up sharply. Consider the opposite: why did silver appreciate significantly, and even gold, the largest asset by market capitalization, rise by more than 70%, while copper only increased by 43%? Could it be that copper hasn't yet entered its peak growth phase, or is it lacking potential?

Like many crypto investors, some have chosen to invest in ETH and altcoins instead of Bitcoin, hoping they will rise after Bitcoin. But as you can see, only Bitcoin has increased in price.

[X-ray]

The abundance of copper in this planet will make the price hardly go up significantly like gold and silver.

At best it will go up following the inflation and a little bit of gain but thats about it. Just don't expect the price to go up dramatically. Anybody can just mine it and add into the supply compensating for the demand.

So, no. I don't think it will moon as hard as silver. But it will go up on smaller scale nonetheless.

[Royal Cap]

In fact, as technology advances the demand for metals also increases. The problem with silver is that the supply is limited, so when usage increases the price skyrockets. This is not unusual but I personally think that many people are giving less importance to copper. Copper is used in electricity, electronics and cars everywhere. Its substitute is not easily available. So I would not be surprised if the price of copper doubles or even more in the future. Silver will remain expensive but copper seems to have more promise in the future.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

CME hiking margin rates on silver again. Second time this week. This time a 30% increase. It seems they’re doing everything they can to try and hold back this rally. Doesn’t seem like they’ve done enough to kill it just yet though.

So much for 'free market capitalism', although I already knew we were never in such a system, that there are some very powerful people behind the scenes with their hands on the levers.  I can't imagine what it must be like to have that much power over what basically amounts to the commodities, stock, and likely every other market out there.  And when a bunch of jokers on r/wallstreetbets squeezed some short sellers, somebody gave the orders to squeeze back hard.

It's such a rigged game and yet it's so damn hard not to keep playing.

[BALIK]

In fact, as technology advances the demand for metals also increases. The problem with silver is that the supply is limited, so when usage increases the price skyrockets. This is not unusual but I personally think that many people are giving less importance to copper. Copper is used in electricity, electronics and cars everywhere. Its substitute is not easily available. So I would not be surprised if the price of copper doubles or even more in the future. Silver will remain expensive but copper seems to have more promise in the future.

Silver and copper are both metals with limited supply, but it's worth noting that they are not as scarce or difficult to mine as gold. Their supply is quite abundant, and for prices to skyrocket, demand needs to outweigh supply. However, with such abundant supply, I don’t think a supply shortage will occur.

Copper is even more readily available than silver. While it's undeniable that demand is increasing due to the development of AI and the electric vehicle industry, as I said, that's still not enough to cause a supply shortage. What I mean is, the increase in silver and copper prices seems to be primarily due to speculation, not actual demand. Therefore, I don't have high expectations for these two assets, and I don't think they will appreciate significantly in the future.

[Altryist]

 I’m surprised by how easily people are being drawn into the metals market right now, especially by how this is happening even within the crypto community. But there is probably an explanation for it: if gold and silver have reached their highs, it now seems like the same could happen with other metals, a kind of alt season among metals. However, for other metals this may be nothing more than guessing, so even if I decided to try buying one of them, it would only be with a small amount of money.