NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 06:17 ET — Market closed
- PSLV fell 6.23% to $23.65 on Dec. 31, tracking a sharp drop in silver prices into year-end.
- Sprott’s reported NAV was $24.59, leaving the trust at a 3.83% discount at the close.
- Traders are focused on CME margin changes, rates and early-January U.S. data for the next move in silver-linked funds.
Shares of Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV) slid 6.23% to $23.65 in the last U.S. session on Dec. 31, with more than 32 million shares changing hands. U.S. equity markets are closed on Thursday for New Year’s Day.
PSLV is a closed-end trust that holds physical silver and trades like a stock, making it a quick proxy for the metal when futures markets lurch. The latest downdraft underscored how quickly sentiment can turn after a year of outsized gains in precious metals.
Silver futures sank more than 9% to about $70.40 an ounce at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, after CME Group hiked margin requirements for precious metals for a second time in less than a week, Investopedia reported. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 4.17%, adding pressure on non-yielding assets like precious metals.
Margin is the cash traders must post to keep futures positions open; higher requirements can force leveraged players to cut risk quickly. The selloff was “largely technical,” Dilin Wu, a strategist at Pepperstone Group, said in comments carried by the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times
Sprott reported a net asset value of $24.59 per unit for PSLV as of Dec. 31, versus a market close of $23.65, leaving the trust at a 3.83% discount. The trust held 210,706,099 ounces of silver with net assets of about $15.11 billion and said it stores fully allocated bars at the Royal Canadian Mint. Net asset value, or NAV, is the per-unit value of the underlying bullion; closed-end vehicles can trade away from NAV when trading demand shifts.
On the futures side, the active Comex silver contract last traded around $70.98, down about 8.9%, CME data showed.
Other silver-backed funds fell in tandem: iShares Silver Trust (SLV) dropped 6.61% to $64.42 on Dec. 31, while abrdn Physical Silver Shares ETF (SIVR) lost 6.57% to $67.64.
Despite the late-December shakeout, silver gained 161% in 2025 and briefly pushed past $80 an ounce for the first time, Reuters reported. Analysts see room for further gains in 2026 if interest rates fall, with support also tied to low inventories, supply constraints and industrial demand, Reuters said.
For PSLV holders, the extra wrinkle is the premium/discount: when selling pressure hits, the market price can slip faster than the bullion-backed NAV, widening the gap. That gap can narrow just as quickly if silver stabilises and buyers return.
Before the next session on Friday, Jan. 2, traders will watch whether silver steadies once normal liquidity returns after the holiday. Any further changes in futures margin rules, or signs that forced liquidation is fading, would also shape the tone for PSLV.
Macro data loom early in January. Weekly initial jobless claims are next due on Jan. 8, followed by the U.S. employment report for December on Jan. 9, according to the St. Louis Fed and the Labor Department’s schedule. The Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting is set for Jan. 27-28.
