Platinum’s Incredible Breakout

In the last 7 days of trading, platinum has dramatically run higher again. The roughly 16% rise smashed through another price ceiling and has continued thus far. Just looking at the chart below may give the first impression that it is a cryptocurrency during a bull run, but it is actually yet another precious metal continuing to shock investors.

Back in June, Trump axed California’s electric vehicle mandate. Keep in mind that if California were its own country, it would rank fourth in the world in GDP terms. Cancelling the EV mandate means that gasoline-burning cars still have a much longer lifespan than expected. The one caveat is that California has some of the strictest emission standards in the world. This means that the continued use of gasoline vehicles will still need to be emission-friendly, and there are a couple of ways to achieve this. One would be to completely redesign patented engine models and the factories that build them, while completely retraining their workforce as well. The other is to add a bit of platinum near the tailpipe, which neutralises carbon monoxide. The platinum attracts oxygen atoms, which then react with deadly carbon monoxide emissions and turn them into carbon dioxide.

Aside from its practical uses in engineering, it shares the same basic financial properties as gold and silver. Platinum is a rare asset that cannot be printed or digitally generated virtually infinitely like fiat currency. Gold has consistently hit new all-time highs this year, but platinum was previously seemingly off the radar. Zooming out, platinum still has 46% to go if it will reach the same level as in 2008.

It is purely speculation, but platinum used to be worth more than gold, and some investors think it may reclaim its title. Every average person knows what credit card they get upgraded to after moving up from silver and then from gold. Any music artist would prefer having their record go platinum rather than just gold. Will this precious metal that seemingly magically cleans toxic emissions as a side job continue to reclaim its title to match the public perception that it is still above gold? Time will tell, and hopefully, continuous news and technical patterns can provide hints.