Summary: Platinum and Silver Lead the Charge in 2025
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China’s Platinum Buying Surges: In April 2025, China imported 11.5 metric tons (370,000 oz) of platinum—equivalent to 98% of the entire NYMEX platinum warehouse stock—signaling aggressive demand amid global supply deficits.
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Global Debt Bubble Dwarfs GDP: With global GDP at $110 trillion, the true scale of global obligations—including unfunded Western liabilities—exceeds half a quadrillion dollars, eroding trust in fiat currencies as long-term stores of value.
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Central Banks Lead by Example: Since 2022, central banks have been acquiring record levels of gold reserves, reinforcing bullion’s role as a superior safe haven asset during periods of monetary and geopolitical instability.
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Gold and Silver Close May Softly: Gold ended May just under $3,300/oz and silver below $33/oz after algorithmic selling pressured prices downward on low-volume, end-of-month trading.
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Precious Metals Show Strong YTD Gains: Gold, silver, and platinum are all up significantly in 2025, following seasonal patterns of volatility but remaining firmly bullish on a historical and technical basis.
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Platinum Poised for Rerating: Platinum’s rally above $1,100/oz may mark the sixth breakout from consolidation since the early 2000s. The metal remains undervalued relative to gold, especially with industrial, jewelry, and investment demand rising in Asia.
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Chinese Consumers Shift to Platinum: As gold becomes increasingly expensive, value-conscious Chinese buyers are pivoting to platinum, recalling past eras when platinum traded at a premium to gold.
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Silver Fundamentals Strengthen via Solar Demand: China continues to expand solar infrastructure at record pace, bolstering industrial demand for silver and setting the stage for continued price strength.
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#SilverSqueeze Still Active: Retail investors remain engaged, spotlighting perceived price manipulation and using end-of-month algorithmic tape-painting as evidence of suppressed spot silver pricing.
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Long-Term Bull Market in Motion: With platinum and silver both in global supply deficits, and bullion still available at relatively suppressed prices, markets are entering what appears to be the early innings of a synchronized precious metals bull cycle.
Silver & Platinum Market Update 2025
Total world GDP was estimated at $110 trillion total for last year 2024 so about 1/3rd the currently estimated hard debt pile worldwide. Additionally not counted for here are the Western World's unfunded or unsaved for promise piles (both massive in the EU and USA respectively). Thus what is actually owed on paper is now well over a half quadrillion in net present value terms.
Yet we're supposed to sit here today with these facts, and collect paper and digital currency units with full faith that they'll somehow store value in the coming decades and we won't be rug pulled on a mass scale.
The history of fading empires especially during structural transitional reseting periods illustrates, we're better off owning bullion outright in aggressive allocations over most competing asset classes and often in place of national or bank issued promissory notes and fungible digital units.
Since 2022, government central banks have been doing so by buying gold bullion reserves in record size.
Regardless of the distracted amnesia they think we suffer from nor a legit US gold reserve audit that will never happen.
Let's turn to Indian precious metals coverage. And have a listen to the current head of one of the world's largest precious metals derivative trading bank desks (counter-party to about 1/10th of that 1/2 trillion dollar PM derivative bet bar).
Listen to his take about gold heading to $4000 oz by the middle of next year 2026, and how silver is bound to break into the $40s oz not long from now.
On the other side of this break, we're going to take a look at the recent bullish breakout for the platinum price and the excellent underlying fundamentals for both it and the white precious metal, silver.
The silver and gold markets moved slightly down on this holiday shortened week to end May trading.
The spot silver price closed just under $33 oz bid and the spot gold price finished just below $3,300 oz bid as the short algorithms painted the monthly chart close tape to just below round numbers.
The spot gold silver ratio ended the week just below the century mark at 99. Technically we need to see it fall below 97.5 before this bloated spot gold silver spell might be behind us.
In terms of year to date performance thus far for all 3 precious metals, gold - silver - and platinum.
Each one is illustrating exceedingly bullish tendencies for the first half of this year, with gold still leading the way thus far on a percentage gain basis.
All three major precious metals are well higher than normal year to date in percentage terms. All are of course gyrating up and down. While mostly positive outsized to the upside, there is similar seasonal fashions in volatility to the last 5, 10, and even 20 year rolling averages.
Platinum recently captured some headlines and interest from the combination of its recently price rally above $1100 oz and increasingly bullish fundamental factors.
The price history of platinum is typical of commodity markets where too high of prices in a bull market create a prolonged bear market and price consolidation until that particular element gets too cheap and rerates higher and typically in a fast fashion to the upside.
This may eventually prove to be the sixth time platinum busts out of a price consolidation and goes on another multi-fold move in spot price.
The Chinese have long memories, going back to the commodity bull market they drove globally in the early 2000s, pre GFC. Where there were years when 1 oz of platinum could afford you 2 ounces of gold.
Now it takes 3 oz of platinum just to garner 1 oz of gold bullion in relative ratio value terms.
Last month the Chinese imported 11.5 tons of platinum as many would be gold jewelry buyers are thrifting to platinum at these ratios looking for value.
That is about 370,000 oz of platinum in just one month of Chinese demand alone. Over 98% of the entire underlying NYMEX platinum fractional reserve warehouse bullion holdings.
This is currently happening in a global platinum market that is on track for a third year in a row of supply deficits.
And there is Chinese gold vs platinum price charts covering the full fiat currency era.
The bid for industrial, jewelry, and investment demand for platinum especially in Asia is not going away. This is how bull markets in all precious metals get going in unison.
Turning to silver, China continues cranking out massive solar panel infrastructure in record size to start this year yet again.
Let's hear a Chinese english news channel explain further some silver fundamentals this last week of May 2025.
Today being the final trading day of the month, the twitter SilverSqueeze crew was out and about posting their recent bullion buys and making silly videos to entertain one another with.
Of course, this chart provided by Craig Hemke of TM Metals Report showing the close of silver is a perfect illustration of why the final trading day of the month makes sense as the silver shorts consistently use algorithms to paint the tape artificially lower below round number like what could have been $33, but a few cents shave in the final low volume trading hour.
So on it goes, #SilverSqueeze still trended on twitter X, and the silver spot price chart continues looking bullish long term.
US citizens and investors worldwide increasingly understand outsized derivative scams have allowed them to buy bullion at artificially depressed prices and relative values for now.
That won't always be the case because we're heading into an era of shortages. Platinum and silver market deficits worldwide the last handfuls of years combined are both warning us of that.
That will be all for this week's SD Bullion Market Update.
And as always, take great care of yourselves and those you love.
References:
Investors turn to silver even as prices jump in catch-up game with gold
https://youtu.be/DH9i7xMuuCI?si=ARMQDp23ia7b5sIb
Forecast Silver Prices To Surge To $40/Oz, Gold Price Correction Could Last A Few Months: BofA Sec
https://youtu.be/7rxP0Zu-X6o?si=th0EyYlJMn8BQnOc
China Imports the Most Platinum in a Year as Squeeze Tightens
May 20, 2025 - https://archive.is/zxRP0
