The records of gold, silver, copper, platinum: why the price of metals is soaring

Silver was one of the most profitable investments of 2025. Its prices have more than doubled since the beginning of the year, dwarfing the already considerable 70% gain achieved by gold. Having started in January, the rush for silver accelerated towards the end of December, bringing the price above 80 dollars per ounce for the first time (around 2 euros per gram). What is pushing prices so high?

Geopolitical tensions

As always, the prices of precious metals benefit from the increase in geopolitical tensions which push investors to stock up on safe haven assets capable – in theory – of maintaining their value even in periods of high volatility and uncertainty on the markets. This explains the gold boom which, driven by purchases by central banks and savers, has quickly surpassed 4,000 dollars and is now sailing towards 5,000 dollars an ounce. And it also justifies, in part, the rally in silver, a less rare but still precious metal, and the run in platinum, 30 times rarer than gold and which has also more than doubled in price this year.

The weakening of the dollar

Two other winds are also blowing in favor of silver and other precious metals: the weakening of the dollar, traditionally inversely correlated to the price of raw materials, and the expectation of new rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, which make assets that do not pay interest such as precious metals comparatively more attractive. However, all this is not sufficient to explain such an extraordinary and unprecedented increase in silver prices. Two factors must be added: industrial demand and financial speculation.

Industrial demand

Unlike gold, in fact, silver has various industrial applications, some of which are very popular: it is used, for example, to build solar panels, data centers for artificial intelligence and electronic devices. The increase in demand from companies active in these sectors triggered the rise in prices which was then magnified by speculation, also fueled by a tweet from Elon Musk, according to which China’s restrictions on silver exports “are not good news: it is needed in many production processes”.

Financial speculation

Sensing the opportunity for generous returns, funds and traders rushed to purchase physical and, above all, virtual silver through ETFs, widening the imbalance between supply and demand. Thus, in the month of December alone, the price of silver rose by 30%. Similar dynamics have also fueled the blaze of palladium, used especially in the auto sector and which has doubled in the last year, and copper, essential for data centers and under threat of Trump duties, which has just reached the maximum of 13 thousand dollars per ton.

The risks of a bubble

How long can this race last? On the one hand, the driving factors – geopolitics, dollar, rates and industry – seem destined to continue into 2026. On the other hand, however, the silver, palladium, platinum and copper markets are much “thinner” than the gold market, i.e. they have fewer active investors and fewer liquidity cushions. They are therefore more subject to sudden fluctuations: on Friday, silver lost over 5% after reaching the record of 80 dollars, while platinum lost 7% and palladium as much as 13%. In short, precious metals are a high-risk bet.

December 29, 2025 (changed December 29, 2025 | 11:22)

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