New York, January 16, 2026, 17:11 (EST) — After-hours
- Spot silver fell about 3% on Friday, easing from Thursday’s record high
- Retail inflows into silver-backed ETFs have surged, sharpening swings
- U.S. markets are shut on Monday; focus shifts to the Fed on Jan. 27-28
Silver prices slid on Friday, cooling after a run that pushed the metal to fresh records this week. The pullback left silver trading back under $90 an ounce into the U.S. holiday weekend.
Spot silver was down 2.9% at $89.65 an ounce by early afternoon New York time, but it was still up more than 12% for the week after touching an all-time high of $93.57 in the prior session. “It’s a general retreat in the commodity complex after weeks of aggressive gains, with some profit-taking,” said Edward Meir at Marex. The Federal Reserve is expected to hold rates through the first half of the year, with markets penciling in a first cut in June, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. (Reuters)
The move matters because silver has turned into a crowded trade, pulled by fast money and by investors treating it like a macro hedge. Vanda Research calculated retail investors bought $921.8 million of silver-backed exchange-traded funds over the past 30 days; silver traded around $91.90 late Thursday, up from $72.62 at the start of the year, data cited by Reuters showed. “We waited 45 years for silver to break above $50 an ounce and now we’ve seen it zoom past $80,” said Kathy Kriskey at Invesco. (Reuters)
ETFs trade like stocks and let investors buy silver exposure without storing bars or coins. That convenience can speed up inflows — and make reversals bite when positioning gets one-sided.
Silver is also pulled two ways. It behaves like a precious metal when markets are nervous, but it has a big industrial footprint, so shifts in growth and manufacturing can matter more than they do for gold.
The dollar and rates still sit at the center of the trade. Silver pays no interest, so higher yields can raise the appeal of cash and bonds, while a stronger dollar makes the metal pricier for buyers using other currencies.
The next session for many U.S. investors will come later than usual. U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with trading set to resume on Tuesday. (MarketWatch)
Futures traders also face a holiday timetable. CME Group has posted adjusted trading hours around the Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance, spanning Jan. 18 to Jan. 20, which can shift settlement and margin timing. (CME Group)
But the rally has a weak spot: crowded positioning cuts both ways. JP Morgan said in a note on Friday that looser supply outside the United States, ETF outflows, softer industrial demand and tighter Chinese trading curbs could leave silver exposed to a sharp correction.
Gold and platinum fell on Friday too, a reminder that the whole precious-metals basket has been trading like a big macro position. Silver often tracks gold, but its industrial side tends to widen the swings when sentiment turns.
Traders now look to the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting on Jan. 27-28, with a press conference scheduled for Jan. 28. Any shift in the rate path could quickly feed through the dollar and into silver prices. (Federalreserve)
