Since October, the price of silver has been consistently breaking its all-time highs. What are the reasons behind this rise, and is it sustainable?
Silver Price Hits Record After Record
Every day since October, the price of silver seems to be hitting a new all-time high (ATH), to the point that the famous precious metal reached $84 per ounce last night, before falling back to $75.63 at the time of writing.
As silver looks set to end 2025 with a rally of nearly 162%, the ATH of nearly $50—which had held since April 2011—has finally been decisively broken, thereby ending 14 years of lackluster performance:
Silver price monthly data
With such a surge, silver has thus climbed onto the podium of the world’s most highly capitalized assets, just behind NVIDIA, although it is still 7.3 times less capitalized than gold:
Top 10 largest market caps in the world
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. For its part, platinum, which has been rising since April, briefly surpassed its all-time high (ATH) last night before also correcting slightly, while copper is hovering near its July record high.
Thus, the prospect of rate cuts and the potential acceleration of inflation that could result may prompt the market to turn to safe-haven assets in anticipation.
Regarding 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 is, in fact, since this announcement that the rally has gained new momentum.
On X, some seem to be waking up to this only today, treating 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 is used in many electricity-dependent technologies, including the automotive industry and data centers, among others.
While it is impossible to say how long the current rally will last, the usual precautions are still in order. Regardless of the validity of the reasons cited above, with the gold rally, we might also wonder whether there isn’t a momentum naturally spreading to other precious metals, thereby creating a speculative bubble. Under this scenario, bullish factors—such as expectations of rate cuts or rising industrial prices—may already be priced in, and new entrants succumbing to the fear of missing out (FOMO) could end up paying the profits of exiting investors.
For those who wish to get a piece of the pie, strict risk management must be adhered to.
