1 kg silver bars handpicked at Conclude Zrt bullion dealer arranged in Budapest, Hungary on Monday, February 17, 2025.
Akos Stiller | Bloomberg | Getty Images
One of the best trades of the year saw a massive reversal.
silver futures It fell 8.7% on Monday after topping $80 an ounce for the first time in overnight trading. The precious metal settled at $70.46 per ounce. It was the worst day for silver futures since February 2021.
This movement is even more dramatic on an intraday basis. Silver fell 15% from high to low, the largest change from high to low since August 2020, when it fell 16.85%.
“This is a historic move,” said Jeff Kilberg, CEO and chief investment officer of KKM Financial. “We haven’t seen anything like this in a long time.”
Year-to-date March silver futures
He attributed the pullback to profit-taking and calendar-end tax loss harvesting, which derailed silver’s rally after a huge rally. The precious metal is still up more than 140% year-to-date. 2025 began trading at just above $20 an ounce.
That’s why precious metals have outperformed even gold this year. February gold futures prices recently topped $4,550 for the first time this month, having risen more than 60% this year.
Gold futures fell about 4.6% on the day, settling at $4,343.6.
There are several reasons for the large profits. Silver, along with gold, is seen as a safe-haven asset for investors wary of other risks, such as rising geopolitical tensions and ballooning U.S. budget deficits. The two metals are also seen as stores of value and can act as a hedge against a weakening U.S. dollar due to inflation and economic uncertainty. Additionally, a weaker dollar makes assets cheaper for other countries, increasing demand.
Additionally, silver benefited from strong industrial demand for electronics such as solar panels, data centers, and electric vehicles.
KKM Financial’s Kilberg expects these tailwinds could continue to push silver prices into 2026. We predict that silver could rise to $90 and even $100, an increase of approximately 27% and 40%, respectively, since the last session.
“I think this is a reset, a reprieve, and just a one-day move at the end of the year. But I think precious metals, both gold and silver, will continue on a higher trajectory,” Kilberg said.
“There’s a dramatic supply problem, there’s a tremendous demand problem, and the combination of those two is going to drive the price of silver higher,” he said. “So I never think the rally is over.”
—CNBC’s Chris Hayes contributed to this report.
