Silver's climb to $60 an ounce is a make-or-break moment for one of 2025's hottest trades

By Myra P. Saefong

After notching 11 intraday record highs in quick succession, strategists say the precious metal could now be facing its first true test

Silver futures on Comex topped $60 an ounce on Dec. 9 for the first time on record.

Silver prices have been on an epic run lately.

But after notching multiple record highs in quick succession, strategists told MarketWatch that the metal's rally could be facing its first true test - with the $60-an-ounce mark widely seen as a make-or-break level. And if silver manages to hold on, investors could see even bigger gains in the short term.

On Tuesday, silver futures (SI00) traded above $60 an ounce for the first time on record, with the most active March contract (SIH26) up 4.2% to settle at $60.84 an ounce on Comex, after trading as high as $61.11.

The $60 level is a "nice, comfy, round number," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation. "Without doubt, it is a significant target for the bulls and it's possible that the price blows past this and it becomes support."

It's just as likely, however, to "act as a resistance in the current environment," he said, with the metal once again approaching "very overbought conditions."

Silver has tallied a total of 11 record intraday highs over the span of about two months, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Before the record-high settlement of $50.43 on Oct. 13, it had been more than 45 years since investors last saw the precious metal's price at a record level. Silver prices have appreciated by more than 100% in 2025, data show.

The metal's surge toward $60 may look explosive, but it "wasn't a surprise to anyone watching the fundamentals," said Max Baecker, president of American Hartford Gold. Years of deep supply deficits and soaring solar and electric-vehicle demand made a breakout "inevitable," he noted.

The move in silver is 'less of a one-off spike and more of a long overdue repricing of an asset that had been held down for more than a decade.'Max Baecker, American Hartford Gold

The move in silver is "less of a one-off spike and more of a long overdue repricing of an asset that had been held down for more than a decade," Baecker said.

Once silver punched through $49.82 - the 2011 high from its last bull run - many expected prices would quickly shoot higher. The move was "always going to be fast," Baecker said. "The only unexpected part was how quickly investors piled in and tightened an already thin market."

But "sharp blow-off rallies followed by crashes and multiyear bear markets" is typical behavior for precious metals, said Trade Nation's Morrison. After hitting a cycle low near $11, silver attempted to breakout again in 2020, and failed.

With the price of silver now above $60, Robert Minter, director of ETF investment strategy at Aberdeen Investments, said he sees $50 as a key support level for the metal. That's right around silver's 50-day moving average, which stood at $51.26 on Tuesday, FactSet data showed. Minter said the bull market for silver is likely fully intact above $50.

The longer-term 200-day moving average for silver stands at around $40.47. Below that level, investors would "question the bull-market health" of the metal, Minter said.

Supportive factors

Several key factors influencing silver's rise are expected to continue to support the metal going forward.

The first is a well-documented supply deficit, which is colliding with fast-growing demand. Global silver supplies undershot demand for a fifth year in a row in 2025, according to the Silver Institute.

See: Don't let gold's record run distract you from silver's 'explosive potential' right now

Supply can't respond quickly enough to rising prices because of issues that affect the entire mining industry, such as environmental standards and mine depletion, said Minter. Between 2016 and 2024, the supply of mined silver fell 8.8% while demand rose 17%. Demand from the solar industry alone rose by 143%.

This has created a bottleneck as industrial demand for the metal has become "relentless," said American Hartford Gold's Baecker. Solar, EVs and electronics require more than half of all silver produced and are increasingly requiring "more metal, not less," he noted, so the rally in silver is the "result of a shrinking supply base colliding with inelastic, fast-growing demand."

More investors appear to be waking up to the opportunity that silver represents. Inflows into exchange-traded funds tracking the metal have exploded as the U.S. dollar DXY has weakened and investors have bet on more Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.

This "fear of missing out" could ultimately prove to be a "very powerful motivator" for investors, Trade Nation's Morrison said. Now that the metal is making waves again, he expects more investors to try and get in on the action.

Read: Silver may be the 'poor man's gold,' but its 74% surge this year looks far from over

Still, he advised investors to approach with caution. Silver can be "extremely volatile," and trading it is "not for the fainthearted or overleveraged," Morrison said.

Read: This week's Fed meeting will highlight the central bank's challenge: Preventing a recession while tackling inflation

While Morrison believes the metal could ultimately make it all the way to $100 an ounce, he said it could face a sharp downside correction along the way.

-Myra P. Saefong

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