Commodity Culture: Silver Deficit Barreling Into a “Brick Wall”

Gold was a runaway winner in 2024, outperforming even the S&P 500. The metal has continued to trend higher even as stocks have pulled back, finally breaking over $3,000 per ounce.

However, while gold has hit new all-time highs, other precious metals have lagged. Silver prices are in the low $30 range, well off of all-time highs near $50. Given how gold has performed, silver should, in theory, trade at a much higher price.

Most gold discoveries throughout history have been saved, whether in coins, bars, or jewelry. Silver has far more industrial uses than gold. That’s made it attractive for electronics. It’s a key metal in technologies like solar panels and electric vehicles.

As such, much silver gets used up. And over the past few years, stockpiles of physical silver have been in decline. If gold continues to push higher, investor interest in silver may take off even further given its lower price.

But with the current supply available, the metal could end up having a strong catch-up rally to gold.

A similar trend cold also play out in platinum and palladium. Those metals are both rarer than gold and have strong industrial uses. But they trade far less per ounce than gold right now.

Investors can play this potential trend with a variety of ways, from the iShares silver Trust (SLV), which owns physical silver, to buying physical silver itself.

For a full read on the precious metals market and silver’s opportunity now, click here.