Quick overview

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Silver, sometimes called the “Devil’s metal” due to its volatility, has reached record highs this year and has more potential for gains despite a supply shortage. The price of an ounce of gold has climbed above $4,000 this year, and silver’s value has been rising in tandem with gold.

 

Silver prices hit a record high of $54.47 per troy ounce in mid-October, up 71% from the previous year. They have since somewhat retreated but are now increasing again despite limited supply.

Over the past fifty years, silver prices have peaked in October only three times, including January 1980, when the Hunt brothers attempted to corner the market by acquiring a third of the global supply, and 2011, when U.S. gold and silver were seen as safe-haven assets during the debt ceiling crisis.

This year, silver’s rise—driven by a short squeeze—caught many investors off guard. Unlike earlier investment waves, the 2025 silver boom relied on a mix of low supply, high demand from India, industrial demand, and tariffs. Silver’s market is only about a tenth the size of gold’s. It saw a slight decline after Liberation Day, while gold prices surged.

The gold-silver ratio—which indicates how many ounces of silver are needed to buy one ounce of gold—spiked above 100, indicating that many ounces of silver are required to buy one ounce of gold. A low ratio means gold is relatively cheap, while a high ratio suggests silver is undervalued and likely to increase.

This ratio hit a record high in April. This year, silver proved to be an attractive, low-cost investment, especially in a country where roughly 55% of the population depends on agriculture. Silver prices in India surged dramatically on October 17, reaching a record high of 170,415 rupees per kilogram, an 85% increase since the start of the year.

However, 80% of India’s silver supply is imported. Historically, the UK has been India’s main silver supplier, but increasingly, the UAE and China are filling that demand. Over recent years, London’s vaults have been rapidly depleting: the London Bullion Market Association held 31,023 metric tons of silver in June 2022, but by March 2025, that volume had fallen to about 22,126 metric tons—its lowest level in many years.