Photo by Scottsdale Mint on Unsplash
Silver reached $100 an ounce today for the first time in history on January 23, 2026. Here’s what we know.
The milestone follows three years of growth. In October 2022, the price of an ounce of silver was just under $20. This means that silver prices have increased by over 400 percent since then. The past year was an explosive one for the precious metal; it has risen by more than 220 percent since then. That means that if you invested $1,000 a year ago, you would have $3,200 today in silver value.
This development follows gold’s recent rise in price as well. Gold has risen over 160 percent in the last year and has returned about 80 percent in the past 365 days. As of January 25, 2026, the price of gold is about $4,980 and may mark the first time that gold reaches $5,000 soon.
Silver is known for its special properties, especially conductivity. Aside from jewelry, its uses in electronics mean that demand for the metal is growing in industries like solar panels and electronics. The supply deficit may have contributed to the rapid increase, yet that may not explain the full picture; the uncertainty with global affairs may have pushed people to rely more on precious metals as a haven.
The most important question, though, has to be whether this growth is sustainable. Several indicators, such as the silver-gold ratio, suggest that the price of silver may be overvalued. For instance, the silver-gold ratio is about 50:1 as of today, January 23, 2026. Historically, this is quite low, and a correction in the silver price may be due.
Precious metals, especially gold, are used as a hedge against inflation. However, they remain less popular than stocks as they don’t produce revenue compared to stocks, which can have dividends paid out to investors. Storing precious metals also has security risks, and exchanging them for cash will lead to exchange fees. This is on top of the fact that silver bars are purchased at a premium from melt value.
Gold and silver generally return less than an index fund like VOO, which replicates the holdings of the Standard and Poor’s 500 and is known for being an indicator of overall market health. Testing both metals since 1968, we find that silver has a compound annualized growth rate, or CAGR, of 6.6 percent and gold has a CAGR of about 8.8 percent. Compared to VOO, this return is not terrible, as the index fund returned a CAGR of 10.7 percent over the same period. Even though a few percent may not sound like much, over a period of many years, it really adds up. Investing 10,000 dollars into each back in 1968, you would have $412,000 from silver and $1,300,000 from gold.
While silver’s recent rise can be attributed to its demand, it is important not to forget that this surge may be temporary. Gold has historically performed the best out of the two precious metals, but the physical attributes of both metals mean that there will always be value in them; it is only a matter of overvaluing or undervaluing.
It is important to do your own research before investing in either of these precious metals. Please do not invest in any of the assets that I have mentioned in this article without doing so. As always, this is not financial advice, and it is difficult to predict the future of both these precious metals.
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