Over the past two weeks (February 2025), we uncovered an intriguing market condition where the differential in premiums between silver bullion bars and American Silver Eagles narrowed significantly. We suspect this was due to a combination of factors – namely increased demand for bullion bars as the US mint front ran tariffs (most silver imported into the U.S. comes from either Canada or Mexico) and institutional investors increasingly stood for physical delivery at the COMEX. On the other side, selling volumes from retail investors have been persistently high for several months, creating a glut of back-dated American Silver Eagles in the market.
This event stood in stark contrast to the pandemic era years when the same differential expanded in dramatic fashion, with Silver Eagles often trading $8-$10 higher per ounce than bullion bars. During those years, we advised clients to vacate Silver Eagle positions in favor of 100-ounce bars. In so doing, our clients were able to leverage the premium on Eagles at the time and acquire more total ounces of silver.
The recent contraction in the differential afforded us an opportunity to bring those accounts full circle and fully realize gains in total Silver Eagles owned for our clients. Not wanting to spook the market, we privately reached out to clients, and after the dust had settled, we had moved nearly 175,000 ounces of silver in under a week out of 100-ounce bars and into Silver Eagles.
And just like that, we moved the market.
As of this notice, Silver Eagle premiums are already 65c per ounce higher on average than when we started our program, and this brief window appears to have now closed. Silver is now breaking out above $33/oz.
The article entitled Trading 100 oz Silver Bars for American Silver Eagles is the investment analysis and comprehensive explanation of this strategy. We invite you to read.
And for those potentially interested, please reach out. We will certainly continue to be active in the market in our efforts to replicate this strategy for anyone interested in pursuing it.
