2026 Silver Market: Why the Price of Silver Could Break Records Again

Silver just pulled off something remarkable in 2025—it jumped from under $30 in January to over $60 by December, hitting levels not seen in 40+ years. The metal hit its peak in mid-December around $64 per ounce after the Fed cut interest rates. But here’s the burning question: can the price of silver keep climbing in 2026, or are we looking at a reversal?

The Real Shortage Nobody’s Talking About

The tightness in physical silver markets is no joke. Metal exchanges globally are struggling to keep inventories stocked, and the numbers tell the story. Shanghai Futures Exchange silver inventories hit their lowest level since 2015 in late November—that’s a red flag for genuine scarcity, not just speculation.

Metal Focus forecasts that 2025 marks the fifth consecutive year of a supply deficit, with a gap of 63.4 million ounces. While this is expected to narrow to 30.5 million ounces in 2026, the shortage isn’t going anywhere soon. The core issue? About 75% of silver comes as a by-product when mining gold, copper, lead, and zinc. So even when silver prices hit record highs, miners aren’t incentivized to crank out more—they’re chasing the primary metals instead.

Meanwhile, silver mine production has been declining over the past decade, particularly in Central and South America. Even if new deposits are discovered today, it takes 10-15 years to bring them into production. The market’s reaction time is glacial.

ETF Flows and Safe-Haven Buying Are Reshaping Demand

Here’s where things get interesting. Silver-backed ETF inflows have reached around 130 million ounces in 2025, pushing total holdings to roughly 844 million ounces—an 18% jump. This massive influx of institutional and retail money reflects something deeper: investors treating silver as real money again.

With Fed independence concerns, potential interest rate cuts, a weaker dollar, and mounting geopolitical risks, the traditional portfolio hedge appeal of silver is supercharged. As an affordable alternative to gold (now over $4,300 per ounce), silver attracts wealth preservation demand that gold alone can’t accommodate.

India’s the prime example. The world’s largest silver consumer imports 80% of its needs and is now buying silver jewelry, bars, and ETFs at unprecedented rates. The price of silver’s affordability compared to gold has unlocked an entire new buyer demographic in Asia.

Industrial Demand: The Long-Term Fuel

Beyond safe-haven buying, industrial consumption is a structural tailwind. Solar panels, electric vehicles, AI data centers, and emerging technologies are consuming silver at accelerating rates. The U.S. now classifies silver as a critical mineral.

Consider the numbers: roughly 80% of U.S. data centers are located domestically, with electricity demand projected to grow 22% over the next decade. AI consumption alone could spike 31% in the same period. Over the past year, U.S. data centers chose solar energy five times more often than nuclear power—and solar panels are silver-hungry technology.

The cleantech boom, particularly in renewables, won’t reverse. If anything, it’s just ramping up.

What Experts Are Pricing in for 2026

The forecasts vary, but they all point higher. Peter Krauth of Silver Stock Investor views $50 as the new floor and calls $70 a “conservative” estimate for 2026. Citigroup aligns with this, predicting the price of silver will hit $70+ as industrial fundamentals hold. On the bullish end, Frank Holmes and Clem Chambers see silver reaching $100 in 2026, driven by what Chambers calls the “juggernaut” of retail investment demand.

The risks exist—economic slowdown, liquidity corrections, or sentiment shifts around paper contracts could pressure prices. But the combination of genuine physical scarcity, ETF inflows, industrial demand, and safe-haven buying creates a foundation that didn’t exist in previous silver rallies.

The white metal’s notoriety for volatility remains; drawdowns could happen fast. But with supply structurally constrained and demand sources diversifying, 2026 could be another record year for silver.