Silver’s 2025 Surge: Supply Deficits Drive Bullish Momentum

Silver is making headlines in 2025 after surging to a 14-year high above $44 an ounce, driven by both aggressive monetary easing and a structural supply deficit. The iShares Silver Trust (SLV) ETF has been a standout beneficiary, rising nearly 49% year-to-date as investors seek exposure to silver's dual role as an industrial metal and a hedge against uncertainty. Recent Federal Reserve rate cuts and strong industrial demand signal silver’s rally has room to run, even as caution remains around potential profit-taking and dollar strength.

Silver Surges to Multi-Year Highs

Silver prices rocketed to $44.52/oz on September 25, a more than 39% rise over the last year, outpacing most analyst forecasts for 2025. This marks the metal’s best annual return in a decade, underpinned by ongoing supply deficits—the market faces its fifth consecutive year of shortage, with industrial demand from sectors like solar and tech continuing to climb. The silver rally gained additional support from inflation concerns and heightened safe-haven buying amid geopolitical tensions and recession fears.

Source: tradingeconomics.com

Spotlight on SLV, SLVR, and GBUG: ETF Performance and Strategy

The iShares Silver Trust (SLV) remains the market’s largest and most liquid silver ETF, soaring nearly 49% year-to-date as silver itself hits fresh highs. Inflows into SLV have also surged, confirming strong investor appetite for direct silver price exposure.

The Sprott Silver Miners & Physical Silver ETF (SLVR) provides a unique hybrid approach, combining physical silver holdings with a concentrated basket of leading silver miners. Since its January 2025 inception, SLVR has posted a cumulative 95.67% return as of late September, with a particularly strong 35% return in the past quarter thanks to both silver’s rally and robust performance among miners. SLVR’s daily NAV closed at $40.66 on September 24 with a net asset value of nearly $297 million and an expense ratio of 0.65%.

For investors seeking active management, the Sprott Active Gold & Silver Miners ETF (GBUG) launched in February 2025 and pursues a value-oriented, contrarian allocation to both gold and silver miners. GBUG’s NAV has climbed 78.5% since inception, with a market price of $35.24 and assets above $100 million. The fund’s actively managed approach aims to capitalize on valuation gaps between miners and the underlying bullion, with diversified exposure reducing company-specific risk.

What to watch next

Path of policy: Additional Fed commentary/data that firm up the easing trajectory will be key for precious-metals multiples—and for silver’s ability to hold above $45.

Physical balances: Updates from the Silver Institute/LBMA on mine supply, recycling and vault inventories help gauge how quickly any deficit tightens. August LBMA data showed London silver holdings at ~24,646 tonnes, up 1.8% m/m—useful context for near-term tightness.

Demand from Asia: India’s imports and ETF buying have been swing factors in recent months; continuation would reinforce the bull case into Q4.

Bottom line

The combination of easier-policy expectations, firm industrial demand, and ongoing supply deficits has pushed silver to its strongest level since 2011—putting the $50 question back on the table. For investors seeking simple, liquid exposure, SLV remains the primary instrument to express that view while accepting the 0.50% annual fee and the usual commodity-linked volatility.

Quickly compare SLV, SLVR, GBUG side by side with our ETF Compare Tool