One element is neglected when comparing Precious Metals and other commodities like Coffee. There are many of the ETF in precious metals that are physical. Buying shares of these ETF will oblige the custodian to buy the PM which will increase the price on the spot market and on the next contracts. The idea of shortsqueezing was to buy as much physical as possible via physical ETF, coins, bars, futures and being delivered so that prices will go up
https://www.wsj.com/articles/silver-etf-at-center-of-reddit-fueled-surge-11612281290

@Stainbock For GC MM are net long approx 96 000 contracts futures only and approx 115 000 contracts futures and options combined (cf disaggregated CFTC report)

PS By the way I come less frequently here as I am fully engaged in trading MP and waiting for a good opportunity on Coffee that I still did not identify...