Silver is up 150% in a year—but that doesn’t mean it’s a safe bet

Silver is up more than 150% over the past year, reaching $73.66 per ounce at 8:45 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, April 13, 2026. That $41 gain may look like momentum, but it doesn’t change what silver has done over the long term: underperform stocks by about 96% since 1921.

The metal’s recent surge is driven by a mix of industrial demand—especially from green technologies like solar panels—and investor appetite during periods of economic uncertainty. Unlike gold, which is primarily a store of value, silver’s dual role in manufacturing makes its price more volatile. A spike in electronics production or a slowdown in mining output can swing the market quickly.

The spot price of $73.66 is just a benchmark. Most buyers pay more. Markups, shipping, and insurance push the effective cost higher. And when selling, investors receive the bid price, which is always below the ask—sometimes by a wide margin. The wider the spread, the more you lose on entry and exit.

You can invest in silver through bullion, coins, ETFs, or mining stocks. But if you want to hold it in an IRA, the rules are strict: only 99.9% pure silver is allowed, stored with an IRS-approved custodian. That excludes pre-1965 U.S. coins, which contain about 90% silver, even though they’re often called “junk silver.”

Experts recommend no more than 20% of a portfolio be allocated to precious metals, with 10% to 15% in silver as a hedge against inflation. But a 150% run-up in a year doesn’t make it a long-term winner. Since 1921, the same dollar invested in the S&P 500 would now be worth 25 times more than the same dollar in silver.