Market Volume Hits $1 Trillion; Silver and Gold Surge, Bitcoin Sags
Feb 5, 2026
Market Volume Hits $1 Trillion; Silver and Gold Surge, Bitcoin Sags
Highlights & Recent Developments
- Industry average daily equity volume hit $1 trillion for the first time ever
- MEMX reached a record of $18.7 billion average daily volume, up 86% year-over-year
- SLV and GLD ETFs were among the most active retail securities on MEMX
- MEMX Options activity was up 22% year-over-year
- MEMX rolled out options routing with 141,324 contracts executed on away markets for 10 firms
- Customer options volume in SLV increased 846% year-over-year and the put-call ratio rose significantly to 0.73
Equities Exchange Highlights
Industry average daily equity volume hit a new record of $1.042 trillion to start the new year. MEMX notional also reached a new high of $18.7 billion, up 86% year-over-year. Higher ETF activity in recent months contributed to the growth, with ETFs accounting for 27% of volume in January.
Retail action in silver and gold surged in January. Figure 2 shows MEMX retail volume in the most active gold ETF (GLD) and silver ETF (SLV), as well as the largest bitcoin ETF (IBIT). Silver and gold had one of their best years ever in 2025, up 148% and 65%, respectively. In contrast, bitcoin declined for its fourth-straight month after the October 10th crypto “flash crash” wiped out billions during a 40-minute cascade. At month end, bitcoin fell to around $76K, down 40% from its all-time high of $126K in October.
Figure 3 shows daily prices in SLV and GLD in January. SLV was up 61% and GLD was up 25% year-to-date through January 29th. However, on January 30th, silver and gold fell sharply after the new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh was announced.
Options Exchange Highlights
Options activity also started strong in January, with 22% year-over-year growth in both industry and MEMX options volume. MEMX rolled out options routing with 141,324 contracts executed on away markets for 10 firms.
Customer options activity (comprising both retail and institutional flow) in SLV and GLD was also off the charts in January. SLV volume increased 846% year-over-year, GLD increased 608% year-over-year, while IBIT increased 59% year-over-year but has slowed from higher levels in October and November.
Throughout much of 2025, the customer put-call ratio in SLV was relatively bullish at ~0.3, but sentiment shifted to 0.52 in December and caution rose further to 0.73 in January 2026. In contrast, the put-call ratio in GLD trended lower in 2H25 indicating a relative improvement in sentiment. IBIT has been anchored around 0.4 to 0.5, but increased to 0.6 in December.
