Silver has smashed through another record today, December 11, 2025, reaching intraday highs over $63 per troy ounce for the first time ever.
This marks a staggering ~110% year-to-date gain, outpacing gold’s rally and signaling intense bullish momentum in the precious metals market. Hovering around $62.50–$63.25 USD/oz, after peaking at $63.86 in overnight Shanghai sessions.
24-Hour Change: Up ~3–5% from yesterday’s close near $60.90. Yearly performance peak from ~$30 at the start of 2025 to now— a true melt-up. For context, silver first broke its inflation-adjusted 1980 high around $50 in today’s dollars back in October, but the past month has been explosive, with multiple retests of $60+ levels.
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This isn’t just hype—structural forces are at play. The Silver Institute projects a fifth straight annual deficit of ~149 million ounces in 2025, driven by booming industrial demand like solar panels, EVs, and electronics outstripping mine output.
Visible stocks on exchanges like Comex and SHFE are at multi-year lows. Yesterday’s 25bp rate cut and signals for more in 2026 is fueling safe-haven buying. Lower rates make non-yielding assets like silver more attractive vs. bonds.
Heavy accumulation into silver ETFs (e.g., SLV) and constrained physical delivery on Comex have amplified the upside. Retail and institutional “stackers” are piling in, echoing the 2021 squeeze but on steroids.
Ongoing global tensions and sticky inflation are boosting precious metals as hedges. Silver’s dual role 50% industrial, 50% investment gives it extra leverage over gold.
On X, the buzz is electric—traders are calling for $70–$100 targets soon, with posts like “Silver just printed another fresh ATH overnight… up 100% in a year” going viral.
This rally underscores economic fragility—think persistent deficits, green tech boom, and de-dollarization vibes. Silver’s outperformance vs. gold up 102% YTD vs. gold’s 59% highlights its volatility but also upside potential.
If you’re holding physical silver, congrats—it’s a monster performer. ETFs or miners via SLV or juniors offer easier exposure, but watch for volatility— silver can drop 10% in a day. Analysts see $65–$70 by year-end if deficits widen.
Silver’s Industrial use now accounts for ~55–60% of total annual silver demand — the highest proportion in history — and it’s the primary reason silver has decoupled from gold and outperformed gold in this cycle.
Every GW of solar installed uses ~15–20 tons of silver. China + India + US are installing at record pace expected >600 GW new capacity in 2025. Silver in electrical contacts, switches, busbars, and increasingly in LFP/NMC batteries. Each EV uses 1–2 oz vs. ~0.5 oz in ICE vehicles.
Data centers, 5G infrastructure, inverters, smart grids — all heavy on silver contacts and plating. Silver paste in PCBs, membrane switches, RFID, 5G antennas, AI chips.
Unlike gold, ~60% of silver demand is price-inelastic industrial use — manufacturers can’t easily substitute it away. Mine production is essentially flat ~830–850 Moz in 2025 and recycling can’t scale fast enough. Structural multi-year deficit of 150–200 Moz annually, with exchange inventories at critically low levels.
China’s solar build-out — single largest marginal buyer; installed >250 GW in 2024 and on track for another record in 2025. India’s PV push — targeting 300 GW solar by 2030; domestic module production ramping hard, all silver-intensive.
AI data-center boom — hyperscalers adding hundreds of GW of power demand ? more inverters, switches, and silver contacts. EVs hitting inflection — global sales >20 million units in 2025, each pulling more silver than the year before.
Industrial demand is no longer a side story — it’s the main engine pulling silver to repeated all-time highs and the reason many analysts now forecast persistent deficits through at least 2030.
If solar + EV + AI keep growing at current rates, we’re looking at industrial demand potentially hitting 1.5 billion ounces by 2030 — almost double today’s total global supply.
A hawkish Fed pivot or sudden supply surge could cap gains, but current scarcity suggests more ATHs ahead. Stack accordingly—this “sweet baby silver” is on fire.