Since October, the price of silver has been breaking historical records. What are the reasons behind this increase, and is it sustainable?
The price of silver breaks record after record
Every day since October, the price of silver seems to be hitting a new all-time high (ATH), to such an extent that the famous precious metal reached $84 an ounce last night, before falling back to $75.63 at the time of writing.
With silver looking set to end 2025 with a rally of nearly 162%, the ATH of nearly $50, which had held since April 2011, has finally been broken, ending 14 years of questionable performance:
With such a surge, silver has climbed onto the podium of the world’s most capitalized assets, just behind NVIDIA, although it is still 7.3 times less capitalized than gold:
There are several reasons for this, starting with a general rise in precious metals. For example, gold is also at record highs, having been climbing since spring 2024. Platinum, which has been rising since April, briefly broke its ATH last night before also correcting somewhat, while copper is flirting with its July record.
Thus, the prospect of rate cuts and the potential acceleration of inflation that would result may motivate the market to turn to safe-haven assets in anticipation.
With regard to silver specifically, China announced new rules at the end of October, resulting in restrictions on exports of silver, tungsten, and antimony starting in January. It was after this announcement that the rise gained new momentum.
On X, some seem to be waking up only today, considering China’s announcement as breaking news. Elon Musk himself commented this weekend: “This is not good. Silver is needed in many industrial processes.”
Indeed, silver has applications in many electricity-dependent technologies, including automobiles and data centers, among others.
While it is impossible to say how long the current rise will continue, the usual precautions are still in order. Regardless of the relevance of the reasons cited above, with the rally in gold, we may also wonder whether there is not a natural inertia spreading to other precious metals, thus creating a speculative bubble. In this scenario, upward factors such as expectations of lower interest rates or rising industrial prices may already be factored into prices, and new entrants succumbing to fear of missing out (FOMO) may end up paying the profits of exiting investors. For those who would like to get a piece of the pie, strict risk management will be essential.
