Current silver price: $61.92 — -0.69% over the past 24 hours.
Silver All-Time High
After 45 years, silver finally shattered its 1980 ceiling in October 2025, then went parabolic to a record near $121.62 per ounce in January 2026. Here is every silver record and what drove it.
Price Chart
EmbedEvery Silver All-Time High
Silver's record stood unbroken for 45 years before the 2025 to 2026 run. Each peak and the force behind it.
All-Time High
~$121.62
January 29, 2026 (spot/LBMA basis; COMEX futures intraday near $121.7)
| Date | Record High (USD/oz) | What Drove It |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 18, 1980 | ~$49.95 | The Hunt Brothers' attempt to corner the physical silver market drove a speculative spike to roughly $50 before COMEX margin and position limits collapsed it. |
| Apr 28, 2011 | ~$49.51 | QE-era dollar fears and the European debt crisis pushed silver to within cents of the 1980 record before a margin-hike flash crash, but it never broke through. |
| Oct 9, 2025 | ~$52.63 | Silver finally cleared $50 for the first time since 1980 and broke its 45-year-old record, on a fifth straight year of structural supply deficit plus safe-haven demand. |
| Jan 29, 2026Record | ~$121.62 | A parabolic short squeeze and COMEX inventory tightness, layered on explosive solar and AI data-center demand and a weak dollar, drove silver to its all-time high. |
The January 1980 Hunt peak of about $49.95 equals roughly $194 per ounce in 2026 dollars, so despite the new nominal record, silver at about $121.62 remains below its inflation-adjusted 1980 high. The 2026 surge did exceed the inflation-adjusted 2011 peak. Record prices are nominal USD and approximate.
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All-Time High
Silver All-Time High: The $50 Barrier Finally Falls
For more than four decades, silver's all-time high was a near-mythical number: roughly $50 per ounce, set on January 18, 1980 during the Hunt Brothers' attempt to corner the global silver market. Silver came within cents of that level again in April 2011, reaching about $49.51 intraday before reversing, but the record held. That changed in late 2025. Silver's all-time high is now approximately $121.62 per ounce, set on January 29, 2026.
The 1980 peak was driven by Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt, who accumulated an estimated 100 to 200 million ounces and cornered roughly half the world's deliverable supply. When COMEX imposed liquidation-only trading rules and raised margins, the squeeze collapsed and silver fell from $50 to under $11 within two months. The 2011 near-retest was different in character, fueled by quantitative easing, a weak dollar, and surging investment demand, yet the $50 level once again proved to be powerful resistance.
The barrier finally broke on October 9, 2025, when silver cleared $50 for the first time since 1980 and pushed to about $52.63. The breakout was built on a fifth consecutive year of structural physical supply deficit, as stagnant mine output failed to keep pace with demand, combined with safe-haven flows during US-China trade tensions.
From there the move turned parabolic. A short squeeze and acute COMEX inventory tightness, layered on explosive industrial demand from solar photovoltaics and AI data-center build-out, a weak dollar, and gold's parallel record run, drove silver to about $121.62 on January 29, 2026. The metal then corrected sharply, giving back roughly half its gains through the first half of 2026 after a more hawkish Federal Reserve revived rate-hike expectations.
One important caveat: despite the new nominal record, silver remains below its inflation-adjusted 1980 high. The Hunt-era peak of about $49.95 equals roughly $194 per ounce in 2026 dollars, so the 2026 record, while historic in nominal terms, did not reclaim the real-terms high. It did, however, comfortably exceed the inflation-adjusted 2011 peak. Check the live chart above for the current price and the gap to the record.
Data provided by MetalCharts, a free precious metals tracking platform offering real-time prices, interactive charts, historical data, and portfolio tools for gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper. Prices sourced from major global exchanges including COMEX, LBMA, and LME, updated continuously during market hours.
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