Silver Spot Price

Silver Prices History: Where It All Began

Silver was first mined some 5,000 years ago by the ancient Asia Minor civilization. The Greek started using silver as currency around 1,800 years later and it was still popular during the Roman Empire.

From the 1500s to the 1800s, the amount of silver mined in countries like Peru, Bolivia and Mexico increased, and the silver traded between the Americas, Europe, and China also began to grow. In the mid-1800s, the United States began to mine silver and since then, it has also been discovered across Europe, Central America and in Australia.

In mining history, it is estimated that around 1.5 million metric ton of silver has been mined, with almost half that mined in the past 60 years.

Silver is popular for various reasons: jewelry, technology, solar, catalysts, medicine and of course, investment.

View Historical Silver Prices

Understanding the Silver Spot Price

The spot price of Silver is the price at which a troy ounce of Silver can be bought or sold on the Precious Metals market. Most of the time, the price of an ounce of silver is given in US dollars and the value is based on trading in the “futures” market, where the prices are set by major producers, refiners, financial companies, and investors. Silver is traded almost all day and night on exchanges in Chicago, Hong Kong, London, New York, and Zurich, among others.

Spot prices change all the time, depending on the market, the economy and the state of the world. With our charts, you can see how stable it is and how the value of your silver will rise over time. We make it easy to keep track of the spot price of Silver, whether you want to do it once a day or once an hour.

Is Spot Price the Same as Market Price?

The market price of silver is usually much higher than the spot price. Silver is more expensive on the market due to the costs connected with mining, refining, manufacturing, minting, marketing, hedging, and warehousing the fine investment-grade silver bullion items that are available for purchase.

How Quickly Does The Silver Price Change?

Silver is traded all over the world, Sunday through Friday, from 6pm to 5:15pm (EST). In that time, the price changes every few seconds – more than 20,000 times a day. Between 5.15pm and 6pm, however, prices remain stagnant.

Silver prices can change for various reasons, and you can keep track of these over the short term or long term via our charts below.

What Impacts the Silver Price?

The biggest impact on silver prices is supply and demand – people are always looking to buy silver, but stocks are running low. According to the Silver Institute, there is only enough silver for the next 20 years, and existing mines have less than 10 years of mining left. If a new use for silver comes into play, demand and prices will increase.

Technology has a direct impact on silver prices considering many of the ways silver is used make it impossible to replace with other metals. For example, the use of silver in solar photovoltaic systems and other green technology.

The economy impacts most precious metals and silver is no exception. When the economy is doing well, people spend a lot of money on jewellery and other things made with precious metals like silver.

Global economic trends and interest rates also impact prices. When the economy is uncertain, silver is thought to hold its value and buying power better than other assets.

Silver also has a long history of being safe from inflation and when the US dollar is strong, silver is also generally strong. The price of gold also impacts silver, matching the price movements.

Is The Silver Price the Same All Over The World?

Silver is priced in US dollars on all global markets, so the spot price is the same worldwide. As foreign traders and investors convert the US price to their local currency to determine its value in their currency unit, if a currency fluctuates significantly, the price of silver in that currency may be significantly different from the price in the United States.

Is Silver A Good Investment?

The market anticipates silver prices to continue rising, making silver an attractive investment. Silver is rare, durable and natural – a tangible investment that cannot be created in a laboratory. It is one of the most useful metals in industry due to its versatility of application. It is applicable to a vast array of fields, including electronics, medicine, batteries, solar panels, and electric vehicles. And new uses for silver are always being discovered. Also, silver can be used as currency and cannot be devalued like paper currency can.

What Are The Best Silver Investment Options?

Individuals, banks, and huge investment firms are the most prominent investors of silver, though it is also purchased for use in the medical profession, the electronics business, aerospace industry, the automobile industry, and other applications.  Different ways to invest in silver include physical silver and paper silver.

Physical silver includes:

• Silver coins: Silver bullion coins made by the government, like silver Britannias, are one of the most popular ways to buy physical silver. They are high quality and generally have a face value so can be used as currency. Limited issue coins and uncirculated coins will hold most value in the longer term.
• Silver bars: These are much bigger than coins and much easier to make, which lowers the price per ounce.
• Silver jewelry: Silver jewelry can maintain or even increase in value over time, allowing investors to create profits. It is also liquid, which makes it easy to buy and sell.
• Silver grain: Silver grain is small pieces of silver sold by weight. Most purchases of silver grain are jewelry manufacturers.

Paper silver includes investment in silver exchange traded funds (ETFs), which is when an ETF invests largely in raw silver assets, and these are then held by the fund manager or custodian in a trust. Silver futures contracts are great investments for professionals (they come with a lot of risk), while stocks in silver mines are another way to invest in the silver industry, though again, it comes with risk like all stocks do.

Invest in Silver Today

With the right products and advice, investing in silver is simple. Our experienced traders at CanAm are available to answer any questions you may have, or if you’re ready to invest right away, start shopping.