Silver & The Seventies

Silver prices have rallied to new highs this week, with the precious metal powering above the USD $63oz price point for this first time in history.

Investors are responding to the price surge, with ABC Bullion seeing huge demand for silver in all forms, from Pool Allocated bullion to 1oz Silver Coins, and our new 1kg Eureka Minted Silver Bar which has proved extremely popular since its launch.

The surge in the silver price has pushed the calendar year-to-date return for the precious metal above 100% in USD terms (the performance is similar in AUD terms), with the gold-to-silver (GSR) ratio falling below 70.

The fall in the GSR is a simple way of illustrating silver’s outperformance relative to gold, which is a typical feature of precious metal bull markets, with the ratio having started the 2025 calendar year closer to 90.

The move in silver has many analysts and market historians looking to the 1970s, with current market conditions starting to mimic the explosive returns seen across the precious metals sector more than fifty years ago.

This time around, there are arguably even more tailwinds in place for precious metals, with the challenge posed by debt and deficit levels, as well as forecast entitlement spending dwarfing what we saw back in the 1970s.

Today’s market is also being driven by record central bank gold acquisition, with nation states continuing to diversify reserve assets, with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) commenting on the recent rush into gold, and the bubble-like conditions in US equities.

That is also a rare and unexpected phenomenon, with precious metals often the market leader in this part of the market cycle.

For silver, the outlook is arguably even more positive. Surging industrial demand—driven by solar, automotive, and AI/data centre requirements—has led Oxford Economics to define it as a “next generation metal”, while the United States has officially given silver ‘critical mineral’ status.

This, combined with a challenged supply outlook—given silver is largely produced as a by-product of copper, lead or zinc mines—only adds to its upside potential.

There is also the technical picture, with chartists observing that silver has now broken out of a 45-year trading pattern. This is a factor that should not be overlooked, given price levels for decades seemed like impossible ceilings to clear - now look like impregnable support.

Given this backdrop, it is no wonder precious metal analysts are forecasting higher prices, with analysts at Incrementum and ByteTree suggesting silver could hit USD $100oz within a year, and push toward USD $175oz by the end of this decade.

Should that eventuate, it would likely put the silver price for local investors up toward AUD $300oz.

For those wanting to access more detailed research, the ABC Bullion report, Silver: A Sterling Investment, provides in depth insights into the outlook for silver—looking at investment demand, industrial factors, and key interviews with industry experts.

Thank you for choosing ABC Bullion.

Jordan Eliseo
General Manager, ABC Bullion

Luke Tyler
Analyst ‑ Market & Business Intelligence, ABC Bullion

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