What is the current price of silver per ounce today?
Silver’s price as of 9 a.m. ET was $29.02 per ounce. That’s up 0.75% from the previous day and up 21.28% since the beginning of the year.
The lowest price for the precious metal in the last 24 hours was $28.67 per ounce per ounce. The highest was $29.30 per ounce.
Silver spot price
Silver’s spot price is the price at which the precious metal can be bought or sold right now. That’s different from futures contracts, where you secure silver for delivery at a later date.
XAG/USD represents silver’s spot price in U.S. dollars. The price in euros is XAG/EUR. For British pounds, it’s XAG/GBP. The market is active 24/7, so prices are constantly in flux.
Silver price chart
The chart below shows how the spot price of silver is trending over the year. The data is updated at 9 a.m. ET and doesn’t have intraday lows or highs.
Silver is up 21.28% over the last 12 months as of 9 a.m. ET. It reached a 52-week high of $32.51 on May 19, 2024. Its 52-week low was $20.69 on Oct. 2, 2023.
The spot price is the current market rate at which silver can be bought or sold for immediate payment and delivery. Spot prices for precious metals are expressed in troy ounces. One troy ounce equals 1.097 standard ounces. This unit of measurement is used almost exclusively to price precious metals.
Silver’s spot price is influenced by various factors and impacted by futures contracts.
Precious metals spot prices
Investors can trade four main precious metals via physical bullion, exchange-traded products or futures contracts. Gold, palladium and platinum spot prices are updated 24/7 in various currencies like silver spot prices.
Gold/silver ratio
One metric people follow closely is the gold/silver ratio. It’s the price of an ounce of gold divided by the price of an ounce of silver. As of 9 a.m. ET, that was 82.52.
This is an important tool for comparing the value of gold to the value of silver over time. A higher ratio means gold is trading at a premium to silver. That can often be a sign of economic uncertainty. A lower ratio means silver prices are gaining on gold prices.
Silver price history
Silver prices reached their highest peak in January 1980, at around $49.45 per troy ounce. Conversely, their lowest trough was in February 1993, at around $3.56 per troy ounce.
Silver prices fluctuate based on multiple variables, such as supply and demand, geopolitical events, currency strength, economic data, and changes in investment trends. The historical spot price of silver has been characterized by high volatility, with fluctuations over the decades.
1970 – 2005
In the mid-1970s, silver was valued at less than $10 per ounce. But it saw a sharp rise toward the end of the 1970s, peaking at over $49 per ounce by 1980.
Despite this sharp rise, the prices fell back down, and by the late 1980s, silver was trading under $10 per ounce again.
2006 – 2024
Silver prices didn’t surpass $10 per ounce until 2006.
The Great Recession marked another significant period for silver prices. In March 2008, the price nearly doubled to about $20 per ounce, potentially driven by the global banking crisis and subsequent economic measures like quantitative easing.
But this was followed by another sharp decline, bringing prices back to around $10 per ounce in October 2008. Silver experienced another historical climb, reaching above $45 per ounce in April 2011.
This history reflects the silver market’s deep drawdowns and high run-ups. Various factors, such as economic crises, market speculation and investor behavior, influence these market shifts.
Silver future prices
Key global exchanges, including those in cities like Chicago, Hong Kong, London, New York and Zurich, facilitate nearly 24-hour trading of silver. The COMEX, a branch of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, plays a pivotal role in setting the silver spot price, using futures contracts to project silver prices.
Silver futures are a financial contract where a buyer agrees to purchase, and a seller agrees to sell, a specific amount of silver at a predetermined price on a specified future date. The standardization provided by silver futures makes the contracts easily tradable on exchanges.
Silver exchange-traded products
Silver exchange-traded products come in various legal structures, including closed-end funds and grantor trusts.
These ETPs generally hold silver bullion in audited storage regardless of their structure. They trade on exchanges with tickers similar to stocks, allowing investors to buy shares representing fractional exposure to the silver stored.
The price of a silver ETP can fluctuate, trading at discounts or premiums to its net asset value. This variation is often due to supply and demand imbalances in the market.
Additionally, investors should be aware of annual management fees and other expenses, which can impact overall returns.
How to invest in silver
Investing in silver can have different benefits and drawbacks depending on the method:
- Bullion. Purchasing physical silver is fairly simple. But storage and insurance costs, dealer markups, and bid-ask spreads can eat into returns.
- Futures. Futures contracts allow you to speculate on prices. They can also be used to hedge against price changes. But futures trading is complex and requires expertise.
- ETPs. Available through most brokerage accounts, ETPs might be the most accessible option. You’ll pay expense ratios for management. What’s more, these products can have tracking errors relative to silver spot prices.
Is silver a good investment?
Whether silver is a good investment depends on an investor’s objectives, risk tolerance and the specific time considered. For some, silver can be a way to diversify a portfolio that already includes stocks and bonds.
But investors must be aware of several factors: the limitations in accessing silver in different forms, its high volatility, and the potential for extended negative or flat return periods.
It’s also important to understand that investments in silver can experience multiyear troughs and may not always align with broader market trends or inflationary pressures.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Silver’s highest historical price was $49.45 per ounce on Jan. 18, 1980.
Silver’s effectiveness as a hedge against inflation is mixed and varies by time and location. Some studies indicate that silver does not correlate well with consumer price movements in the U.S. But there has been some correlation in the U.K. market over the long run.
But for a more reliable hedge against inflation, investors might consider other commodities like energy and agricultural products. These often have a more direct and consistent relationship with inflationary trends.
