NEW YORK, Jan 16, 2026, 10:00 EST
- Spot silver surged to an all-time high of $93.57 an ounce on Thursday, then dropped back to roughly $92.50.
- BMO noted the gold/silver ratio has dropped to around 50, marking its lowest point since 2012.
- According to Reuters, retail investors have funneled roughly $922 million into silver-backed ETFs in the last 30 days.
Spot silver dipped 0.3% to $92.50 an ounce on Thursday, after hitting a record $93.57 earlier in the day. Meanwhile, spot gold slipped 0.1% to $4,614.93, according to Reuters. “The dollar index is at a multi-week high and that’s providing a bit of a headwind for gold,” said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals. 1
BMO Capital Markets flagged that the gold/silver ratio—the silver ounces needed to buy one ounce of gold—has dropped to about 50, its lowest since March 2012, suggesting it might be close to a historic bottom. The bank noted the ratio could dip further in the short term due to geopolitical demand and what it called a “meme investment” surge. Still, it expects a rising physical surplus to push the ratio up in the coming years. BMO also pointed to cooling solar demand and highlighted that solid-state batteries could add as much as 100 million ounces of silver demand by 2030 if projects from BYD, Samsung, and LG Energy Solution scale up. 2
The warning comes as retail investors pour money into silver. Vanda Research estimates that individual buyers snapped up $921.8 million in silver-backed ETFs over the last 30 days. On Wednesday alone, the iShares Silver Trust saw $69.2 million in retail inflows — its largest single-day gain since the 2021 rally, according to Reuters. Vanda noted, “This isn’t just a meme-stock spike,” while Kathy Kriskey, head of alternatives ETF strategy at Invesco, added: “We waited 45 years for silver to break above $50… and now we’ve seen it zoom past $80 in less than three months.” 3
The rally has sparked even bolder price predictions. “All roads are leading to gold and silver,” said Alex Ebkarian, chief operating officer at Allegiance Gold, as silver surged to a record $92.23 on Wednesday. He pegged his short-term forecast for silver between $100 and $144. 4
Just one day before, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, Fortune’s price snapshot showed silver trading at $89.56 an ounce, slipping $2.22 from the day before but still more than $58 higher than this time last year. Gold was listed at $4,605.45, with platinum at $2,361.88 and palladium at $1,840.04. 5
Silver’s playing both sides again: one minute it’s a safe haven, the next it’s moving like an industrial metal. That back-and-forth drives its swings to be more volatile than gold’s.
The real danger lies in the crowd. Big ETF inflows can flip quickly into large outflows, and when traders load up with leverage, the situation can unravel rapidly.
The gold/silver ratio brings another angle. When it plunges sharply, some investors see it as a cue to reposition—often trimming silver holdings or boosting gold bets, expecting a snap-back.
Fundamentals remain tricky, with large amounts of metal held by investors. What seems like a tight market on paper can suddenly ease if these holders choose to offload during a price surge.
Higher prices boost miners, but their stocks don’t always move in step with the metal. Costs, hedging strategies, and political factors often steal the spotlight.
