After Cracking US$70, Silver Looks Poised For US$80 Record - Expert

WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) -- Silver looks poised to attempt an all-time high of US$80 per ounce by the middle of next year if it can maintain the momentum from this week’s first-ever break beyond US$70, metals strategist Phillip Streible told Sputnik/RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"We could probably hit US$80 [and] I would see that as a target for mid-2026," said Streible, who heads metals outlook and commentary for Chicago-based Blue Line Futures.

Precious metals are reasserting their strength as 2025 draws to a close.

Gold crossed US$4,500 an ounce the first time ever on Tuesday in both futures and spot trading for bullion on safe-haven buying triggered by geopolitical tensions and demand from central banks looking to hedge against the falling value of dollar-held reserves.

The spot price of silver breached US$70, while futures on New York’s COMEX touched a record high of US$70.18 per ounce, driven by a supply deficit and explosion in power needs for artificial intelligence (AI) data centres and electric vehicles, where silver’s unmatched electrical conductivity makes it a critical feedstock for the global energy transition.

Year-to-date, silver has doubled the outperformance of gold, with its spot price up 143 per cent versus the 72 per cent gain in spot gold. The phenomenon has rocked the metals world, where silver has always played second fiddle to gold, to the extent it is dubbed as the "poorer cousin" of the yellow metal.

The turnaround has also dramatically narrowed the silver-gold ratio — a gauge that used to measure the difference in their pricing. The ratio is currently at 64:1, meaning one can get 64 ounces of silver for an ounce of gold. At the start of this year, it was at 91:1, as silver began 2025 at US$29 versus US$2,640 for gold.

Streible said he expected the ratio to dwindle to 45:1 in the not-too-distant future.

-- BERNAMA-SPUTNIK/RIA NOVOSTI