(Kitco News) - Silver is once again attracting significant investor attention as it experiences a meaningful technical breakout ahead of the weekend.
Earlier in the week, silver attempted to break above $37 an ounce, but the rally encountered solid selling pressure. However, prices managed to maintain healthy support above $36 an ounce. By Thursday, investors were making another run at the $37 level, and follow-through buying on Friday has pushed prices above $38 an ounce.
Spot silver last traded at $38.09 an ounce, and is up 3% on both the daily and weekly charts.
“It’s an incredible technical breakout,” said Philip Streible, Chief Market Strategist at Blue Line Futures.
Streible noted that silver is benefiting from rising gold and copper prices. The grey metal is viewed as both a critical monetary asset and an industrial commodity. This week, copper saw its biggest one-day rally in history, surging around 13% after President Trump surprised markets by announcing a 50% tariff on copper imports.
A mad rush to bring copper into the U.S. has driven the premium between Comex and the London Metals Exchange to an unprecedented high. Although copper futures have pulled back slightly from mid-week highs, they are still on track to close the week at a record high above $5.50 a pound.
In a comment to Kitco, Streible said he expects some of copper’s momentum to filter through to silver.
But it’s not just copper prices driving silver’s rally. Streible also noted that silver has been the last of the precious metals to see a significant breakout. Platinum prices have nearly gone parabolic over the last seven weeks, approaching $1,500 an ounce. Platinum has rallied 66% from its April lows below $900 an ounce.
Meanwhile, silver had been trading between $28 and $34 an ounce for most of the year. Investor interest began to pick up in June as prices rallied to $36 an ounce.
“Platinum’s been on a tear, and gold has held steady above $3,300, so it’s not surprising that we’re seeing a strong rotation into silver,” Streible said. “It’s silver’s turn.”
Silver is now up 34% from its April lows to Friday’s highs. Streible added that, compared to gold and platinum, silver still has room to play catch-up.
This renewed momentum has pushed the gold/silver ratio down to 87.81, its lowest level since January. Spot gold last traded at $3,362.62 an ounce, up 1.6% on the day and 0.77% on the week.
Bullish outlook supported by tight supply and green energy demand
Looking ahead, many analysts remain extremely bullish on silver, citing a perfect storm of robust industrial demand and rising investment interest amid an ongoing supply deficit.
On Thursday, the Silver Institute reported that physical holdings in global silver-backed exchange-traded products rose to 1.13 billion ounces in the first half of 2025—just 7% below the peak of 1.21 billion ounces set in February 2021.
“With net inflows of 95 million ounces (Moz) in the first half of 2025, silver ETP investment has already surpassed the total for all of last year,” the Institute noted. “This surge reflects increasingly bullish price expectations.”
Industrial demand for silver, driven by the green energy transition and growing solar power adoption, remains robust. Industrial consumption is expected to total approximately 677.4 million ounces this year, roughly unchanged from 2024.
Aaron Hill, Chief Analyst at FP Markets, said he expects silver prices to maintain their uptrend as supply struggles to keep pace with demand.
“The momentum is driven by a combination of robust industrial demand—particularly from green technologies like solar panels and electric vehicle production, which accounted for record-high silver consumption in 2024—and geopolitical uncertainties, including ongoing tensions in key mining regions like Russia and Mexico, which have tightened supply,” he said.
In June, when silver crossed $35 an ounce, commodity analysts at TD Securities said that $50 had become a viable target.
TDS analysts added that higher prices may be the only factor capable of meaningfully addressing the growing supply deficit.
“Our estimates of LBMA silver’s free float now stand at their lowest levels in recorded history,” they wrote in a Thursday note. “With only ~155 million ounces of silver freely available for purchase, the market structure is critically challenged. Silver’s illusion of liquidity tells us the market will only rebalance through some form of a squeeze on physical.”
