Silver is doing something weird. Honestly, if you looked at a chart from two years ago and compared it to the price of silver today, you’d think the decimals were in the wrong place.
We aren't talking about the sleepy $22-an-ounce metal that bored investors for a decade. As of mid-January 2026, silver has been hovering around **$88 to $90 per ounce**, even peaking briefly at $93 earlier this week. To put that in perspective, it was barely $30 a year ago. That is a 200% climb. It’s the kind of vertical move that usually makes people panic-buy or panic-sell, and right now, the market is doing a bit of both.
What’s Actually Driving the Price of Silver Up?
Most people assume it’s just inflation. "Oh, the dollar is weak, so metals go up." Kinda, but that’s only about 20% of the story. The real reason silver is screaming toward $100 is a brutal, mathematical supply deficit that has been building for five years.
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You’ve got to understand how silver is mined. It’s mostly a byproduct. When companies mine for copper or zinc, they find silver as a "bonus." Because it’s a byproduct, you can’t just "turn on" more silver production just because the price goes up. If copper demand is flat, silver supply stays flat. Meanwhile, the world is suddenly hungry for the stuff.
The Industrial Hunger
- Solar Panels: This is the big one. Silver is the best conductor of electricity on Earth. Period. We haven't found a cheap substitute that works as well in photovoltaic cells.
- Artificial Intelligence: This caught people off guard. AI needs data centers. Data centers need high-end semiconductors and massive power distribution systems. Guess what metal is inside those chips and connectors?
- Electric Vehicles: An EV uses roughly double the silver of an internal combustion car. With global mandates kicking in, that’s millions of ounces being pulled out of the investment market and locked into car batteries.
The Silver Institute reported that 2025 was the fifth straight year of a massive supply deficit. We are literally running out of the silver sitting in vaults in London and New York. When the physical metal vanishes, the "paper" price on the COMEX has to chase it. That’s what we are seeing right now.
The Gold-Silver Ratio is Collapsing
For years, the gold-to-silver ratio was stuck around 80:1 or even 100:1. It felt like silver was the forgotten stepchild of the precious metals world. But recently, that ratio has compressed to about 57:1.
Historically, when this ratio collapses, it means silver is outperforming gold by a massive margin. While gold at $4,500 an ounce makes headlines, silver’s move from $30 to $90 is much more significant for the average person’s portfolio. It’s more accessible. You can still buy a few ounces of silver without taking out a second mortgage, though even that is getting harder as premiums at local coin shops stay stubbornly high.
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Is $100 Silver Inevitable?
Predicting a round number like $100 is always a gamble, but some big names are betting on it. Citigroup analysts recently floated a $100 target for the first quarter of 2026. Even Robert Kiyosaki, who has been shouting about "fake money" for years, is now calling for $175 silver.
But let’s be real. Silver is famous for "blow-off tops." In 1980, it hit $50 and then crashed. In 2011, it hit $50 again and then spent years in the basement. The difference this time is the industrial floor. In the 80s, we didn't have a global solar grid or AI servers. Today, the demand isn't just coming from people hiding coins under their floorboards; it’s coming from industrial giants who need the metal to keep their factories running.
What You Should Keep an Eye On
If you’re watching the price of silver this month, keep a close watch on the US Federal Reserve. They are hinting at rate cuts, which usually makes non-yielding assets like silver look much more attractive. Also, watch the geopolitical mess in South America. Mexico and Peru are the world’s top producers, and any strike or political unrest there sends the spot price jumping $2 in an afternoon.
Don't expect a smooth ride. Silver is volatile. It’s "gold on steroids." It can drop 5% in a morning on a "sticky" inflation report and then gain 8% the next day because a silver-backed ETF like SLV saw massive inflows.
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Actionable Steps for the Current Market
If you’re looking at these prices and wondering if you missed the boat, here is the reality of the 2026 market.
First, check the premiums. If the spot price is $88 but your local dealer is charging $105 for a one-ounce American Silver Eagle, you’re starting 20% "in the hole." Consider "junk" silver—pre-1965 US quarters and dimes—which often have lower markups.
Second, look at the miners. Companies like Endeavour Silver or Pan American Silver often move three times as fast as the metal itself. If you think silver is going to $100, the mining stocks might offer more "bang for your buck," though they come with much higher risks like mine collapses or tax changes.
Third, don't go all-in at once. Use dollar-cost averaging. Buy a little bit every two weeks. This protects you if the market decides to take a 15% "breather" after this massive run. The fundamentals for silver are the strongest they've been in forty years, but the path to $100 will be anything but a straight line.
Keep your eye on the $91 resistance level. If we break and hold above $91 for more than three days, the psychological barrier at $100 becomes the next logical stop.