From tariff uncertainty to supply deficit, market watchers anticipate more golden times for silver.
Silver prices topped $60 an ounce as the bull run in the metals market continues in the home stretch of 2025.
The white metal rallied about 4 percent, or more than $2, to almost $61 per ounce on Dec. 9 on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This year, silver has been the strongest-performing asset, rocketing more than 100 percent—outperforming gold.
Gold prices rose about 0.6 percent to above $4,200 per ounce, lifting their year-to-date gain to nearly 61 percent. The yellow metal’s meteoric ascent cooled off after flirting with an all-time high of $4,400.
The gold-to-silver ratio, meanwhile, has retreated to 70—a year-to-date low—from its peak of 105 this past spring, signaling renewed institutional confidence in silver, according to ING. This is a widely used long-term indicator that measures the number of ounces of silver required to purchase an ounce of gold.
“Prices have swung sharply this year as changing economic signals and evolving tariff policies influenced market sentiment. With uncertainty still high, we think more volatility is likely ahead,” Ewa Manthey, commodities strategist at ING, said in a Dec. 8 note.
While a persistent supply deficit and enormous industrial demand have driven silver’s rally for much of the year, tariff-driven tailwinds could be in the tea leaves, Manthey said.
Traders are eyeing a potential tariff on silver after it was added to the U.S. Geological Survey’s list of critical minerals.
Tariff uncertainty has redirected the precious metal from global exchanges such as London and Shanghai to the United States, triggering a “historic squeeze.”
Beyond import duties, silver’s rallies are typically grounded in market fundamentals, whereas gold’s gains are more often driven by safe-haven investor demand.
Looking at the year ahead, Manthey anticipates “additional demand tailwinds come from electrification, power grid upgrades, and growing use of silver in automotive components, especially in hybrid and battery electric vehicles.”
The overall metals market also has blossomed this year.
Palladium prices, for example, have advanced 70 percent, to above $1,500 an ounce, and platinum has soared 87 percent, to $1,700 per ounce. Copper prices also have increased, by 33 percent, firmly above $5 a pound.
These industrial metals have climbed on resurgent global demand and supply disruption dynamics. Portfolio diversification and bargain-hunting investors have also helped drive up their prices.
By Andrew Moran
