---
title: "Is Now the Right Time to Invest in Silver?"
site: "Monex Precious Metals"
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type: "Post"
description: "Explore why silver's price, supply deficits, and industrial demand may make 2025 a strong buying opportunity for investors seeking portfolio diversification."
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last_updated: "July 8, 2025"
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---

# Is now a good time to invest in silver?

“Alongside bonds, one way of diversifying a portfolio away from equities is through commodities. Gold has enjoyed a strong year, but there are reasons why now could be a good time to invest in silver.

Silver prices have increased slightly over 19.9% in dollar terms over the past 12 months, and 20.3% in sterling terms. Silver lags gold during this period, but given that gold and silver prices have historically been compared in order to assess the investment appeal of either, this arguably strengthens the case for investing in silver.

Since hitting a peak in late October silver prices have fallen approximately 10.4% in dollar terms, and 8.2% in sterling, over the past month.

This could present a buying opportunity, but there are several factors to consider when deciding whether or not to invest in silver.

The investment case for silver is distinct from gold. While it is, similarly, a precious metal with a rich history of usage in coinage, in the modern era it is silver’s industrial qualities that have the greatest bearing on its price.

“55% of annual demand [for silver] comes from industry or tech, compared to less than 10% for gold,” Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, tells MoneyWeek. “Look around you; if something’s got an on/off switch, it most likely contains silver.”

Other industrial use cases include brazing and alloys, the chemicals industry and medical equipment – the latter benefiting from the fact that bacteria cannot grow on silver, an inert ‘noble’ metal.

For these reasons, silver “sometimes tracks action in copper prices more than the ‘safe haven’ precious metal”.

All of that said, many of the same drivers that impact the gold price – financial stress, interest rates, inflation expectations and policy decisions – also apply to silver. “Indeed, you can think of silver as gold on crack,” says Ash. “More irrational, more volatile, more dangerous; but also more fun if you’re looking for risk.”

Is silver a good investment?

As well as the industries above that have traditionally driven silver demand, Ash also highlights three “boom industries” to which silver is particularly relevant: renewable energy (particularly photovoltaic solar panels); artificial intelligence (AI), thanks to its use in wiring, connectors and switches; and defence, for the same reasons.

The rise of these industries is, potentially, contributing towards an imbalance of supply and demand for silver which should, over the medium term, be positive for the silver price.

According to The Silver Institute, between 2015 and 2023 annual demand for silver increased from 1.07 billion ounces to 1.20 billion. Over the same period, supply fell from 1.05 billion ounces to 1.01 billion. There is, in other words, a widening gap between the amount of silver required and the amount produced.

The boom industries are the main drivers of increasing demand. Total industrial silver demand increased from 457 million ounces in 2015 to 654 million in 2023, and that number is expected to jump by 9% to 711 million ounces in 2024. Electronics, particularly photovoltaics, is the largest driver of increasing industrial silver demand.

One thing to keep in mind when considering investing in silver, though, is its volatility. Futures and options speculators call it “the devil’s metal”, says Ash, on account of its propensity to make sudden, sharp moves just as they think they’ve figured it out.

“That’s less of a risk for investors trading physical bullion at spot prices, but its volatility is still significant,” says Ash. “While that can bring opportunities, it can also leave you nursing losses for extended periods of time.” “