Silver price today: Silver is down 1.82%, trading at $33.42

What is the current price of silver per ounce today?

The price of silver opened at $33.42 an ounce, as of 9 am ET. It is down 1.82% from the previous day and up 39.69% year to date.

The lowest trading price on the last day: $32.92 per ounce. The highest spot silver price in the last 24 hours: $34.13 per ounce.

The spot price of silver

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 reserve silver for later delivery.

XAG/USD represents the spot price of silver in US dollars. The exchange rate for euros is XAG/EUR. For British pounds, it is XAG/GBP. The market operates 24/7, so prices are always rising.

12 month silver price chart

The chart below shows how the spot price of silver has progressed over the year. Data is updated at 9 am ET and does not include intraday lows or highs.

Silver is up 39.69% in the last 12 months as of 9 am ET. It hit a 52-week high of $34.87 on Oct. 22, 2024. Its 52-week high was $21.88 on Nov. 13, 2023.

The spot price is the current market rate at which silver can be bought or sold for immediate payment and delivery. Online prices of precious metals are expressed in troy ounces. One troy ounce is equal to 1.097 standard ounces. This measure is used almost exclusively for the purchase of precious metals.

The spot price of Silver is influenced by various factors and is affected by futures contracts.

Precious metal prices

Investors can trade the four precious metals using bullion, exchange-traded products or futures contracts. Gold, palladium and platinum prices are updated 24/7 in different currencies as are silver spot prices.

Gold/silver ratio

The gold/silver ratio is the price of an ounce of gold divided by the price of silver per ounce. As of today, the gold/silver price ratio is 83.25.

This is a valuable tool for comparing the value of gold and the value of silver over time. A high ratio means that gold is trading at a higher price to silver. Often that can be a sign of economic instability. A lower ratio means that silver prices are increasing with gold prices.

Silver price history

Silver prices reached their highest peak in January 1980, at about $49.45 per troy ounce. On the other hand, their lowest price was in February 1993, about $3.56 per troy ounce.

Silver prices fluctuate based on many variables, such as supply and demand, environmental events, currency strength, economic factors, and changes in investment patterns. The historical price of silver has been characterized by high volatility, with fluctuations over decades.

1970-2005

In the mid-1970s, silver was valued at less than $10 an ounce. But it experienced a sharp rise in the late 1970s, peaking at $49 an ounce in 1980.

Despite this strong rise, prices fell, and by the late 1980s, silver was trading below $10 an ounce again.

2006 – 2024

Silver prices did not exceed $10 an ounce until 2006.

The Great Recession marked another critical period for silver prices. In March 2008, the price almost doubled to $20 per ounce, which could be attributed to the global banking crisis and subsequent economic measures such as quantitative easing .

But this was followed by another sharp decline, bringing prices back to around $10 an ounce in October 2008. Silver had another historic climb, reaching above $45 an ounce in April 2011.

This history shows the serious problems of the silver market and the high levels. Various factors, such as economic crises, market speculation and investor behavior, influence these market changes.

The future is silver

Global exchanges are located in London, Hong Kong, Zurich, New York and Chicago. They allow trading of silver for up to 24 hours. COMEX plays an important role in setting spot prices for silver. This branch of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange uses futures contracts to determine silver prices.

Silver futures are contracts to buy or sell silver at a set price on a set date in the future.

Silver ETPs

Do you want to invest in silver using your regular broker? Then you can consider exchange traded products. ETPs have ticker symbols and trade like stocks on an exchange. They usually have a lot of money saved in audited institutions. Shares represent owning a fraction of that silver.

Note that ETPs may have management fees. They may have tracking errors related to the price of the silver spot.

How to invest in silver

Investing in silver can have different advantages and disadvantages depending on the method:

1. Bullion. Buying physical silver is very easy. But storage and insurance costs, dealer markups, and advertising claims can cost a lot of money.
2. The future. Futures contracts allow you to speculate on prices. They can also be used to hedge against price volatility. But futures trading is complex and requires experience.
3. ETPs. Available through many broker accounts, ETPs may be the most accessible option. You will pay the cost estimates for the administrators. Additionally, these products may contain tracking errors related to silver prices.

Is silver a good investment?

Whether silver is a good investment depends on various factors. Your investment goals, time frame and risk tolerance play a big role in your investment decisions.

Investing in any asset, including silver, can be risky. Prices are subject to change. You should proceed with caution and do a lot of research before you go inside. That said, silver is another way to diversify a portfolio of mostly stocks and bonds.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is silver rarer than gold?

No, gold is rarer than silver. And platinum is rarer than silver and gold.

The deficiency of precious metal is understood in its heavy part. That’s how much iron can be found in a billion kilograms of Earth’s surface. Silver is 75 parts per billion, while gold is 4 parts per billion.

Can I use silver as a hedge against inflation?

Silver’s strength as a hedge against inflation is mixed and varies by time and place. Some studies show that silver does not correlate well with consumer price movements in the US But there has been some correlation in the UK market for a long time.

But for a reliable hedge against inflation, investors can consider other instruments such as energy and agricultural products. These often have a more direct and consistent relationship with inflation trends.