Price of silver skyrockets to record high of $100

The price of silver hit $100 an ounce for the first time yesterday – having been trading at less than $30 just over a year ago.

On another record-breaking day for precious metals, silver rose as high as $102 while gold reached $4,988 an ounce as it approached $5,000.

The price of silver has more than tripled since the start of 2025 when it was trading hands for about $29 an ounce. The metal only reached $50 as recently as October.

Silver is up some 40 per cent already this year and gold has gained around 15 per cent as investors nervous about the state of the world look for somewhere apparently safe to park their cash.

Fears over mounting geopolitical uncertainty – turbocharged this week by Donald Trump’s plan to take control of Greenland – as well as worries about government borrowing, inflation and the weakening dollar have boosted demand for precious metals.

The value of silver (which is used to make Wimbledon’s iconic Venus Rosewater Dish, won last year by Iga Swiatek) has also been pushed higher by strong demand from the technology industry as the metal conducts electricity better than copper and is a key component in electric vehicles and solar panels.

And concerns that President Trump could put tariffs on silver have led to stockpiling in the US, resulting in shortages elsewhere in the world. David Morrison at Trade Nation said the surge in silver prices has fuelled interest among individual investors hit by so-called ‘fear of missing out’ – or FOMO.

‘As high-risk as gold may be, it has nothing on silver which continues to outperform in the most extraordinary fashion,’ he said.

‘There’s an awful lot of FOMO out there. But, of course, the longer this rally extends, the greater the risk of being caught out on a weak limb. Silver looks toppy up here. But I’ve been saying that for ages now and have been repeatedly wrong.’

In a bizarre twist, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday said demand for gold helped boost a lacklustre retail sector over Christmas. Sales across the final three months of 2025 were down 0.3 per cent. But they jumped 0.4 per cent in December.

Pointing to booming demand for precious metals as prices soared, ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: ‘Online jewellers had a strong month and told us there was higher demand for gold and silver.’