Silver prices have slumped in 2026. Could they rise from here?
Experts believe the price of silver could recover in the long term thanks to strong structural demand from industrial uses.
The price of silver continues to fall as a re-stoking of conflict in the Middle East prolongs a miserable spell for precious metals investors.
Spot prices for silver closed at $57.78 per ounce on 15 July, down 20% from where they started the year and 53% from the all-time high silver price of $121.67, reached on 29 January.
Silver sold off steeply from 30 January when it became clear Kevin Warsh was the likely pick as next chairman of the US Federal Reserve, a position he now occupies. Warsh is regarded as relatively disposed to higher interest rates compared to other candidates who were in the running; higher US interest rates are typically a headwind for gold and silver, so prices fell as the markets factored in revised interest rate expectations.
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The war in Iran compounded this effect by pushing up global inflation. Given explosive gains for both metals last year, gold and silver both served as a source of liquidity for investors following the conflict’s outbreak. Higher global inflation is also likely to result in relatively higher interest rates.
Silver carries much of the same appeal as gold for investors, but benefits from additional demand thanks to its key role in advanced industrial technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, electric vehicles (EVs) and solar technology.
These two aspects of silver – its monetary and industrial functions – are currently converging in a way that “rarely occurs with this intensity”, said Jacob White, director of ETF product management at metals asset manager Sprott Asset Management.
If you’re deciding where to invest, does silver make sense now?
Why invest in silver?
While silver, like gold, is a precious metal with a rich history of usage in coinage, in the modern era it is silver’s industrial qualities that have the greatest bearing on its price.
“Historically, there would have been a closer relationship between silver and gold in their end uses,” Robert Crayfourd, portfolio manager of the Golden Prospect Precious Metals investment trust, told MoneyWeek. “But today, silver is over 50% industrial, and that’s primarily going into high-end electronics.”
Anything you can see around you with an on/off switch likely contains silver.
Other industrial use cases include brazing and alloys, the chemicals industry and medical equipment – the latter benefiting from the fact that bacteria cannot grow on silver, an inert ‘noble’ metal.
For these reasons, silver sometimes tracks action in copper prices more than gold.
Many of the same drivers that impact the gold price – financial stress, interest rates, inflation expectations and policy decisions – also influence silver.
Silver is also, typically, prone to greater price swings than gold.
“Silver tends to move a little bit like more volatile gold,” said Cosmo Sturge, director of market strategy at metals fund manager Baker Steel. “It tends to move directionally with gold, but with a little bit more volatility.”
Is now a good time to invest in silver?
In the short term, silver is under pressure. Prices recovered slightly in June as the US and Iran appeared to have brought the conflict to an end, but the collapse of the ceasefire has seen silver prices fall still further.
But various structural drivers suggest silver prices could rise over the long term.
Silver is at the heart of boom industries like clean energy, AI and defence.
The Silver Institute, an industry body for the silver industry, and advisory firm Oxford Economics, published a report titled ‘Silver Demand Forecast to Expand Across Key Technology Sectors’ in December. It highlighted three major growth industries that are driving silver demand: solar photovoltaics (i.e. solar panels), electric vehicles (EVs) and AI data centres.
Silver is an important material for all three industries and their pace of growth is fuelling rapidly rising demand for silver.
“Industrial usage now accounts for 58% of total silver demand, with electronics the dominant pillar at 40%, reflecting silver's status as the most electrically conductive metal on Earth,” said Sprott’s White.
Despite rising demand, supply is barely moving. “Mine production has been effectively flat for a decade despite the silver price moving sharply higher, and 2026 supply is expected to decline modestly, even with recycling rising,” said White. “The reason is structural: 74% of silver is mined as a byproduct of lead, zinc, copper, and gold operations, where silver is only a small share of mine economics. Those operators are not materially incentivised to flex output when silver rallies.”
Between 2017 and 2025, total annual demand for silver increased around 16%, from 972 million ounces to 1.13 billion. Over the same period, supply only increased by 6%.
So the long-term drivers of silver prices seem supportive, meaning that the pullback in recent months could be viewed as a good buying opportunity for would-be silver investors.
Investors surveyed by precious metal custodian BullionVault believe silver prices will rise through the remainder of the year, giving an average price forecast of $69.69 by the end of the year – 21% above the 15 July close.
“Looking out over the remainder of 2026, the setup remains constructive,” said White. “Near-term volatility may likely persist, but a market characterised by stagnant supply, structural deficits, and accelerating industrial demand is supportive.”
How to invest in silver
There are various ways to invest in silver.
You can buy physical silver in the form of silver coins or bars, but these incur 20% VAT, plus 10-15% dealing spreads on top.
Specialist custodians can enable you to avoid sales tax while cutting this trading spread too. Using a custodian should also save the expense and risk of storing and insuring physical silver on your own property, as they will normally store your silver in a professional level vault.
Alternatively, you can gain exposure to movements in silver prices by buying a physical silver exchange-traded commodity (ETC). An ETC behaves similarly to an exchange-traded fund (ETF), but it tracks the spot price of a particular commodity, as opposed to a bundle of stocks. The iShares Physical Silver ETC (LON: ISLN), for example, tracks the spot price of silver.
Buying shares in silver miners is another way to invest in silver. However, bear in mind that this is a different and arguably riskier investment than in physical silver or a tracker for the spot price, because while changes in the silver price will impact the share prices of silver miners, they are also exposed to other, unrelated factors, such as company mismanagement. Mining stocks tend to be more volatile than the commodities in which they focus.
An ETF which comprises silver miners, such as the Sprott Silver Miners & Physical Silver ETF (LON:SLVG), can give you diversified exposure to silver miners. While doing so may dilute some of the company risk associated with buying individual silver miners, this should still be considered a distinct play from investing in physical silver (either directly or via an ETC).
Golden Prospect Precious Metals (LON:GPM) is an investment trust that invests in a diverse portfolio of precious metal miners. Similarly, Baker Steel’s Gold & Precious Metals Fund selects individual silver miners based on fundamental research.
