Silver Smashes Through $75, Eyes $78 in Historic 169% Rally
Silver surged past $75 for the first time ever on Dec 26, with prices nearing $78 as the metal's 2025 gain reaches 169%, its best year since 1979.
Silver broke through another ceiling Friday.
Spot silver crossed $75 per ounce for the first time in history, jumping as much as 7.6% to breach $77 before some traders reported prices touching $78. The move extends what's become the metal's best year since 1979, with year-to-date gains now at 169%.
That's more than triple the S&P 500's 18% advance and roughly four times Nvidia's 42% gain.
The Numbers
Friday's action was dramatic even by silver's 2025 standards. Spot prices opened around $70 and gapped higher throughout the session, ultimately settling near $76. Volume across major futures exchanges ran at multiples of normal holiday-week levels.
Gold followed silver's lead but with less intensity, adding 1.1% to reach $4,527 after touching an intraday record of $4,533. The gold-silver ratio, which measures how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold, has compressed from over 80 at the start of the year to roughly 60—a shift that historically signals silver outperformance.
Why the Acceleration
Three factors pushed silver from $72.70 at Tuesday's close to Friday's $75+ levels.
First, the dollar weakened. The DXY index slipped 0.4% on post-holiday positioning, making dollar-denominated commodities cheaper for foreign buyers. Silver, with its smaller market cap than gold, tends to move more sharply on currency shifts.
Second, supply concerns intensified. The London Bullion Market Association reported that registered silver inventories fell to their lowest levels since 2016. Industrial demand from solar panel manufacturers and EV battery producers continues absorbing available supply.
Third, momentum. When silver moves, it tends to keep moving. The metal's relative strength index has been in overbought territory for months, yet prices keep climbing. Technical analysts have stopped calling tops.
The 1979 Comparison
Silver's 169% gain invites comparisons to its last great run.
In 1979-1980, silver spiked from under $6 to nearly $50 as the Hunt brothers attempted to corner the market. That bubble ended badly—the brothers went bankrupt, and silver spent decades below its peak.
This rally looks different. There's no single buyer manipulating prices. Instead, silver is responding to structural forces: declining mine output, surging industrial demand, and persistent inflation that has investors seeking hard assets.
The 1979 parallel that does hold is velocity. Silver tends to move in bursts, not grinds. Once a breakout begins, it often overshoots before correcting.
What Traders Are Watching
The $80 level looms as the next psychological barrier. Some options traders are positioning for a move to $100 by mid-2026, though those contracts remain cheap, suggesting skepticism about that target.
More immediate support sits around $70, the level silver held before this week's surge. A pullback to that zone would represent a 7% correction—painful but normal in a commodity that routinely swings 5% in a session.
Gold's trajectory matters too. If gold retreats, silver typically falls harder. But if gold continues toward $5,000, silver could ride the momentum higher.
The Bigger Picture
Silver's 2025 rally is part of a broader precious metals repricing.
Central banks have been net buyers of gold for three consecutive years. Retail investors, scarred by inflation and uncertain about equity valuations, have rotated into hard assets. And industrial demand—particularly from the solar and EV sectors—has created a structural bid for silver that didn't exist a decade ago.
Whether prices can sustain above $75 depends on these trends continuing. For now, the momentum belongs to the bulls.