I still remember the first time I held a one-ounce silver coin in my hand and thought, “This thing is never going to move.” That was back in 2020 when silver was stuck around $18. Fast forward to today — December 2025 — and the same coin would cost you north of $62. Honestly, even I didn’t see this coming quite so fast.
Silver has officially gone from the sleepy corner of the precious metals world to the loudest party in the room. While everyone was busy watching gold climb its own ladder, silver quietly doubled, then kept running. And now the question on every commodity trader’s lips is simple: is $100 really possible?
The Year Silver Woke Up
Let’s put 2025 into perspective. At the start of the year, spot silver was hovering just above $29. By April it cracked $40. By August it was kissing $50. And this week it finally punched through the old 1980 nominal high to touch $62.88 before settling around $62. That’s a 115% gain in twelve months — a move most assets only dream about in a decade.
But here’s what really catches my eye: silver isn’t just riding gold’s coattails anymore. It’s outperforming gold by a country mile. Gold is “only” up about 60% year-to-date. The gold-silver ratio has collapsed from over 90 earlier this year to around 68 today — its lowest since 2021. History tells us that when the ratio gets this compressed during a bull market, silver usually has more room to run.
Why Silver Has a Dual Personality (And Why That Matters Now)
Most people think of silver as “poor man’s gold.” That’s only half the story. Unlike gold, which is mostly hoarded in vaults, roughly 50-55% of annual silver production gets eaten up by industry — and that percentage keeps rising.
Think about everything that needs silver right now:
- Solar panels (one of the biggest growth drivers)
- Electric vehicle wiring and charging infrastructure
- 5G equipment and data centers
- Artificial intelligence hardware (cooling systems and conductors)
- Even everyday stuff like smartphones and switches
The Silver Institute just released numbers showing global industrial demand is on track to set another record in 2025, and they expect the trend to accelerate through 2030. Meanwhile, mine production has been essentially flat for years. Above-ground stocks are shrinking. You don’t need a PhD in economics to see where this is heading.
“Silver’s superior electrical and thermal conductivity is becoming indispensable in the technological transformation sweeping the planet.”
— Recent industry report
The Supply Crunch Nobody Saw Coming
Silver mining is tough. Most silver actually comes as a by-product of copper, lead, and zinc mining. When those base-metal prices are weak, miners cut back — and silver supply suffers too. Add in years of under-investment after the 2011-2020 bear market, and you’ve got a recipe for chronic deficits.
We’ve now seen physical market deficits for five straight years. Some analysts estimate the cumulative shortfall since 2020 is approaching 1 billion ounces. That’s a billion ounces that had to come out of existing stocks. Those stocks aren’t infinite.
And guess what? Central banks aren’t buying silver to refill vaults the way they’ve been scooping up gold. So every ounce used in a solar panel or an EV battery is gone forever.
So, Can We Really See $100 Silver?
Short answer: yes, and probably sooner than most people think.
When silver was still below $50 in October, some brave voices were already calling for triple digits by late 2026. With the metal now above $62, those forecasts suddenly look conservative. One managing director I follow told me this week that “the trajectory remains firmly intact” and that “any pullbacks should be viewed as buying opportunities.”
Another chief strategy officer put it even more colorfully: “When extreme undervaluation meets endless deficits and a new industrial revolution, market magic happens.” He expects “violent drawdowns” along the way — classic silver volatility — but believes we’re in the early stages of a secular bull that could carry the metal well into triple-digit territory during 2026.
Personally, I think $100 is almost inevitable if industrial demand keeps growing at the projected pace and mine supply stays constrained. The only real question is timing — and whether we overshoots to $120 or $150 before the cycle peaks.
How to Position Yourself (Without Getting Wrecked)
Silver is nicknamed the Devil’s Metal for a reason. It can double in six months and then drop 30% in a week. If you’re going to play this move, do it with eyes wide open.
Here are the main ways people are getting exposure right now:
- Physical metal — coins or bars. Great for long-term holders, but storage and insurance add cost.
- ETCs/ETFs — track the spot price minus small fees. Liquid and easy.
- Silver mining stocks — offer leverage to the price. When silver rises 10%, quality miners can jump 30-50%. But they fall harder too.
- Junior explorers — highest risk/reward. Some of the 2025 winners are already up 500-1000%.
My personal preference? A blend. Some physical for peace of mind, some ETF for liquidity, and a basket of well-financed mid-tier producers for leverage. That way you sleep at night but still catch the upside.
What Could Derail the Bull Case?
No trend goes straight up. A few things to watch:
- A sharp global recession crushing industrial demand
- Massive new mine discoveries (unlikely in the near term)
- Central banks suddenly dumping gold and triggering risk-off panic
- Profit-taking cascades creating 20-30% air pockets
Even in those scenarios, though, the structural deficit probably limits downside. Silver at $40 again feels almost impossible unless the entire green-energy transition slams into reverse.
Final Thoughts — This Might Be Just the Beginning
I’ve been following precious metals for fifteen years, and I can’t remember a setup this compelling for silver. The combination of safe-haven buying, explosive industrial demand, and a multi-year supply deficit feels like 2009-2011 all over again — except this time the industrial story is even stronger.
If you’ve been waiting for “the” commodity story of this decade, you might be looking at it right now.
Will there be pullbacks? Absolutely. Will volatility scare people out at exactly the wrong moment? You bet. But zoom out five years, and I suspect most of us will wish we had bought more silver in late 2025.
The Devil’s Metal has finally woken up. And it doesn’t look like it’s going back to sleep anytime soon.
