Silver Price in 1988
In 1988, the price of silver averaged $6.53 per troy ounce, down 6.8% from the year before. This page covers the 1988 average, high, low, and year-end close, the events that moved the market, and what that silver would be worth in today's dollars.
1988 Average
$6.53
LBMA annual average, USD/oz
Change vs 1987
-6.8%
from $7.01 in 1987
1988 High
$7.82
from daily trading data
1988 Low
$6.01
from daily trading data
Year-End Close
$6.02
last trading day of 1988
What happened to the silver price in 1988
Silver averaged $6.53 per troy ounce in 1988, down 6.8% from $7.01 the year before. Daily trading data shows silver moved between a low of $6.01 and a high of $7.82 during the year, ending 1988 at $6.02.
The 1980s opened with the Hunt brothers squeeze driving silver to roughly $50 per ounce in January 1980, followed by the Silver Thursday collapse that March. The rest of the decade was a long unwind as inflation cooled and speculative interest drained away.
Adjusted for inflation, silver's 1988 average of $6.53 equals about $18 in today's dollars. The conversion uses US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U annual averages, so treat it as a close approximation rather than an exact figure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the price of silver in 1988?
What is a 1988 silver price worth in today's dollars?
Annual averages are LBMA prices per troy ounce in US dollars. Where shown, the yearly high, low, and close come from MetalCharts daily historical data and may differ slightly from figures published elsewhere. Inflation adjustments use BLS CPI-U annual averages.