The rules of the game have changed. At one time, western bankers could easily pull a few strings and keep the global price of silver within an acceptable range. But now financial centers in Asia are becoming more dominant, and supplies of physical silver are becoming extremely tight. As a result, western bankers are no longer able to exert the same level of control.
At the end of December, CME Group hiked margin requirements twice in a single week.
In the old days, that would have essentially been the equivalent of dropping an atomic bomb on the market.
Of course they were able to drive the price of paper silver back down to about $70 for a few days, but here we are on January 6th, and it is already back to the $80 mark.
That isn’t the result that they were hoping to achieve.
And the gap between the paper silver market and the physical silver market has become extremely alarming.
If you want to purchase an ounce of physical silver in the United States right now, it will cost you close to 90 dollars.
In some countries in Asia, an ounce of physical silver will cost you more than 100 dollars.
Financial institutions that have enormous short positions are freaking out, because they are facing catastrophic losses.
I think that this is going to be a huge story in the months ahead.
The bankers were probably assuming that they could crush this silver rally just like they crushed the rally in 1980. But the big difference this time around is that global supplies of physical silver have become extremely tight…
Silver has closed 2025 as the best-performing asset after a historic 26% surge in December. Yet market participants warn that this rally is not a replay of the Hunt brothers’ blow‑off in 1980 or the QE panic in 2011.
Back then, with leverage removed, the price could fall back because the metal was available. Today, silver is in a persistent deficit, experiencing surging industrial demand and a tightening geopolitical grip on physical flows.
A silver rally in 2011 also got crushed, but we are in a totally different environment today and western vaults “are getting starved for physical metal”…
In 2011, ETF inflows and investment demand as a hedge against QE propelled the demand. Still, solar and industrial use were smaller, and above‑ground stocks and Western vaults could eventually meet demand once the panic cooled.
Today, these vaults are getting starved for physical metal. For years running, silver demand has outstripped mine supply and recycling, draining inventories. Industrial usage – especially solar, EVs, and electronics – has surged. The changing market dynamics have naturally shifted investment preferences.
Meanwhile, the Chinese have decided to substantially restrict silver exports, and that gives them a tremendous amount of power over the marketplace…
Meanwhile, China has not banned silver exports outright, but reclassified the metal as a strategic commodity. Thus, it controls the outflow through 44 licensed companies. Every outbound ton is now a political decision, not just a price response.
Everything is different now.
One analyst at Bank of America is actually projecting that the price of silver could go as high as $309 an ounce in 2026…
Michael Widmer, Head of Metals Research at Bank of America, stated in the report that gold will continue to serve as an important hedge and primary return driver. The bank forecasts that the average gold price will reach $4,538 per ounce in 2026, with potential to test the $5,000 milestone. Driving factors include tightening gold supply, rising production costs, and strong investment demand.
However, the report particularly emphasizes that silver’s upside potential far exceeds that of gold. Widmer pointed out that the current gold-to-silver ratio is approximately 59:1, while historical extreme lows were 32:1 in 2011 and 14:1 in 1980. A reversion of the ratio towards these historical lows implies that the silver price could surge to a range between $135 and $309 per ounce. This substantial potential appreciation makes silver highly attractive to investors willing to take on higher risk for extra upside.
If the price of silver even goes up to $100 an ounce this year, I think that it is going to create a tremendous amount of pressure on a lot of financial institutions.
The price of copper has also been skyrocketing in recent months.
It was up about 50% in 2025, and on Tuesday it hit yet another brand new record high…
Global copper prices hit an all-time high Tuesday, extending a run for both the industrial metal and its peers, as investors scrambled to secure supplies amid a surge in expected demand and uncertainty tied to tariffs and geopolitical risks.
In our high tech economy, copper is such a key commodity.
President Trump has been threatening to impose substantial tariffs on copper imports, and this is happening at a time when the AI data center construction boom is really ramping up…
Copper prices have powered more than 20% higher over the past two months, topping $13,000 a ton on the London Metal Exchange for the first time earlier this week, as supply disruptions increased the value of the key industrial metal and amid the threat of new levies from the Trump administration later this year.
President Donald Trump, according to reports, has been mulling tariffs of around 15% on all copper imports in 2027, with the levy increasing to 30% in 2028, just as demand tied to data-center construction, electric-vehicle production, and power grid projects accelerates. That has led to a surge in U.S.-based copper stockpiles as investors import the metal to avoid tariff charges and a resultant depletion of supplies in markets around the world.
Close to 3,000 new data centers are either being planned or are already under construction in the U.S. alone.
That is crazy.
Globally, it is being projected that data center construction will consume over half a million metric tons of copper each year by the end of this decade…
Data centers currently consume about 1.5% of global electricity supply, roughly the same amount as the entire U.K., according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The organization believes that, by 2030, demand will more than double, with AI responsible for much of the increase. That means data centers could be consuming more than half a million metric tons of copper annually by the end of the decade.
As executive chairman of HIVE Digital Technologies, I’ve watched this transformation firsthand. The infrastructure needed to power this new digital economy—whether it’s Bitcoin mining, AI training or cloud computing—is staggering. And it all runs on copper.
As long as the AI boom continues, demand for copper will continue to rise.
Of course the construction of AI data centers consumes a lot of physical silver as well.
This is something that is outside of the control of western bankers.
They are still trying to pull the strings, but they simply do not possess the same level of power that they once did.
That is really bad news for them, but it is exceedingly good news for silver investors.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.