How will silver prices fare in 2026?

Like Robin to gold’s Batman, silver has been known to play eternal sidekick in the world of precious metals — often overlooked by its more illustrious counterpart.

Despite silver’s practical applications in industrial processes and outputs, including as a paste used on solar panels and arrays to collect and transport electricity, the price ratio of gold to silver has at times eclipsed 100/1.

At present, however, the ratio is as close as it’s been in 15 years, as both gold and silver prices undergo extreme volatility to start 2026 — including a stretch where, at least by net appreciation in value, silver’s rise began to eclipse gold’s.

What’s driving silver prices in 2026?

Silver price forecasts

Source: J.P. Morgan Commodities Research, $/oz, quarterly and annual averages.

J.P. Morgan Global Research sees silver prices averaging $81/oz in 2026. This follows an eventful 2025 during which silver underwent a nearly 130% increase in value, starting the year at $29/oz and rising to over $70/oz by year end.

Part of that increase came about because of U.S. tariff policy. For months, the U.S. Commerce Department underwent a review of critical minerals under Section 232, a specific provision of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act of 1962 that allows the President to impose tariffs or other trade restrictions on imports if they are deemed to threaten national security. That period of uncertainty ended in mid-January, with President Trump holding off on imposing new tariffs on imports of critical minerals, including silver, and instead seeking bilateral agreements with trading partners to secure adequate supply. Silver’s price dipped then rebounded after that executive order.

Then, on January 30, Kevin Warsh was nominated as the next Fed chair. Silver crashed 27%, alongside a 10% drop in gold prices.

Warsh’s appointment and a rebound in USD confidence appear to have partially slowed outsized demand for precious metals, but certain structural drivers remain that may continue to constrain silver’s supply.

One is that, by and large, silver is mined as a byproduct of other metals, meaning production is somewhat less elastic to higher silver prices. Another is silver’s role in industrial processes, such as the manufacture of solar panels. 

Silver demand is exploding. Could it be a double-edged sword?

Gregory Shearer, head of Base and Precious Metals Strategy at J.P. Morgan, describes a scenario in which silver’s sky-high price may start to erode demand from solar manufacturers as they turn to silver-free methods to circumvent costs, as well as “thrift,” or reduce the usage of silver contained in each solar panel.

“Long term, the largest risk we see for silver comes from more widespread adoption of silver-free technology, such as the cadmium telluride thin-film technology,” Shearer said, referring to an innovation that can replace the need for silver in solar arrays. “While a precious metal at its core, silver is still a very industrial metal, with industrial applications accounting for about 60% of total demand (excluding ETF flows). From a fundamental perspective, we believe the surge higher in silver has likely already set in motion a meaningful acceleration in substitution and thrifting trends, which will leave scar tissue on silver balances over the coming quarters.”

However, Shearer conceded that these changes may take years to play out and that in the near term, fluctuations in investment demand and appetite for silver remain paramount for prices. 

A higher floor for silver prices — and an unclear ceiling

One reason gold enjoys more dependable demand than silver is that its buyer base is wider and includes global central banks, which purchase gold as diversification from USD reserve holdings, as well as for its virtues as an inflation hedge and liquid asset with no counterparty risk.

Silver doesn’t enjoy that same baseline demand — which is part of the reason why a fair silver price may be harder to ascertain. “Without central banks as structural dip buyers as in gold, we do think there remains the risk for a further move back higher in the gold to silver ratio,” Shearer predicted.

Still, global demand, including in large markets such as China and India, will play a crucial role in determining where silver prices find support after recent pullbacks. “With amplified Chinese investment demand significantly influencing price formation across the metals complex, we believe this remains another catalyst to watch in silver over the coming weeks,” Shearer said. “Ultimately, we are more cautious on re-engaging in silver in the near term until it becomes clearer that some of the recent froth in prices has been fully shaken out.”