Silver prices

Silver is an industrial metal first

More than half of world silver demand comes from industry: solar panels, electronics, and medicine. That ties its price to the health of manufacturing far more than gold, whose demand is mostly a store of value. The result is that silver moves harder than gold in both directions, up and down.

The gold to silver ratio

This ratio says how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold. Historically it has hovered around 60 to 70. When it runs high, some investors read silver as cheap relative to gold, and when it runs low they read the reverse. Treat it as a comparison gauge rather than a buy signal, since it can sit far from its average for years.

999 versus 925

Pure silver at 999 is what gets sold as investment bars and coins. Sterling silver at 925 is 92.5% silver with other metals added for the hardness that jewellery and tableware need. Before comparing two prices, make sure you are comparing the same purity, otherwise the gap will look bigger than it is.