Silver is on a tear right now. The metal pushed past $50 an ounce for the first time last week, setting off a chain of reaction across commodities desks worldwide.

By Monday morning, it was up 2.4%, trading at $51 an ounce, while New York futures surged by 4.5%, sitting around $49, and up by more than 78% this year, well ahead of gold’s 50% rally, according to data from CNBC.

The rally is being fueled by heavy demand, tight supply, and the growing hunt for real assets in a world still dealing with inflation and market volatility.

Paul Syms, head of EMEA ETF fixed income and commodity product management at Invesco, said gold’s record-smashing run earlier this year led traders to rotate into other metals. “Interest in silver picked up when the gold-silver ratio moved above 100x after the post ‘liberation day’ gold rally,” he said Friday.

“The only time the ratio has been above 100x this century was during the pandemic, and that was followed by a sharp reversal.”

Syms added that until now, silver hadn’t hit a record since 2011, while gold has set 39 new highs in 2025.

Traders eye industrial demand as silver outperforms gold

Syms said investors are treating silver as both a store of value and a strategic commodity. Unlike gold, which has limited industrial use, silver is embedded in electronics, solar panels, and renewable energy systems, giving it a dual advantage.

“From an investment case standpoint, silver is also perceived as a store of value but has many industrial uses, particularly in electronics and renewable energy technologies,” he said. The ongoing AI semiconductor boom has only added to the pressure, as manufacturers snap up silver for chips, wiring, and circuitry.

He also pointed out that silver’s 2025 rally has blown past even bullish expectations. “Sentiment toward gold and silver remains positive and investors generally have relatively low allocations,” he said. “Prices are unlikely to be affected by this being a crowded trade subject to profit taking, particularly while equities also remain at the highs.” Syms noted that as long as optimism holds, silver could extend its climb in the months ahead.

Paul Williams, managing director at Solomon Global, agreed that silver’s move is being powered by fundamentals, not speculation. “A deepening structural deficit, record industrial demand, and accelerating investment in green technologies are tightening supply and pushing prices higher,” he said.

Williams described this rally as being driven by “real-world forces,” contrasting it with the speculative surge of 1980. “While silver doesn’t share gold’s full safe-haven credentials, its dual role as an industrial and store-of-value metal continues to draw investors seeking stability and upside,” he added.

Forecasts suggest a potential climb to $100

Williams said that even after hitting new highs, silver still looks cheap compared to gold, and the bull run could stretch into 2026. “Given the current climate, a $100 silver price is certainly possible by the end of 2026,” he said. He pointed to the growing global investment in green energy, from solar manufacturing to EV infrastructure, as key drivers behind the sustained shortage.

Philippe Gijsels, chief strategy officer at BNP Paribas Fortis, has been predicting $50 silver for over a year and now believes the price could easily double from its current level. “Big round numbers tend to attract investors like a magnet,” he said. “Once that price gets in the gravitational field of the big numbers, we typically see an acceleration and a buying climax.”

But Gijsels also warned of possible pauses. “What typically happens after a huge run like this is that we see a pause,” he said. “We could see a brief but rather violent pullback, prices may flatline for quite a while, or it could be a combination of both. But somehow the technical overbought condition has to be worked off.”

Still, he doesn’t think the story ends here. “Investors have come on board since the beginning of this year,” Gijsels said. “They’ve understood that in an inflationary world, a world where volatility and uncertainty are the new normal, and where central banks keep printing money to keep the system afloat, one needs to hold real assets to protect purchasing power.”

He described this phase as only the start of a major commodities cycle. “We are still closer to the beginning than to the end of what could well become one of the largest bull markets in recorded history,” Gijsels said. “I would not be surprised to see silver well north of $100 in the not-too-distant future.”

Join a premium crypto trading community free for 30 days - normally $100/mo.