Silver Rises Over 120% YTD 
When silver crossed $100 per ounce in January 2026, it did something rare in financial markets: it made recent forecasts look conservative almost immediately.
Just a few months earlier, on November 12, 2025, we published an article titled Is Now the Best Time to Buy Silver? [Silver 2025–2030 Forecasts] — an article that surveyed major institutional outlooks and discussed some of the most bullish silver forecasts we could find. Looking back now, even those projections appear remarkably conservative.
The 2025 Silver Forecasts Wall Street Got Wrong
In our November roundup, we highlighted several well-known bank forecasts that, at the time, appeared bullish by historical standards:
- UBS projected silver reaching $42 per ounce through June 2026, with potential upside into the $44–$47 range. The bank later raised its mid-term target to $55 by mid-2026.
- Bank of America saw silver climbing toward $65 per ounce by 2026, with an average price around $56.25.
- Citi, by contrast, expected silver to retreat back toward $42 per ounce.
Measured against silver’s long-term trading range, these numbers didn’t seem unreasonable. Yet less than three months later, silver prices surged well beyond every one of these projections.
What was once framed as an aggressive silver price forecast now looks modest in hindsight.
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Mike Maloney and the Case for Triple-Digit Silver
One forecast in our November article stood apart from the rest — and it came from GoldSilver’s own Mike Maloney.
Throughout 2025, while Wall Street banks projected silver topping out between $42 and $65 per ounce, Mike built a persistent, methodical case for triple-digit prices. Here’s just a sampling:
- Sept 16, 2025 Why $200 Silver Isn’t Just Possible — It’s Probable
- Sept 23, 2025 Triple-Digit Silver? Why the Charts Say It’s Possible
- Nov 13, 2025 Is $200 Silver Still “Crazy” — or Inevitable?
- Dec 24, 2025 Will Silver Hit Triple Digits in 2026?
Three weeks later, silver crossed $100.
Mike’s outlook wasn’t based on short-term momentum or algorithmic models. It was rooted in monetary history, supply constraints, industrial demand, and the long-term consequences of global debt expansion. When viewed through that lens, today’s prices are less a surprise and more the logical outcome of forces that have been building for years.
This is an important reminder for investors: a silver forecast grounded in fundamentals often ages better than one built solely on near-term expectations.
Why Forecasts Missed the Move
Most institutional forecasts tend to assume relatively stable monetary conditions. They extrapolate recent trends forward and struggle to account for regime shifts — especially when confidence in currencies, interest-rate policy, or financial stability begins to crack.
Silver, however, sits at the intersection of two powerful forces: it is both a monetary metal and a critical industrial input. When inflation expectations rise, currencies weaken, and industrial demand accelerates simultaneously, silver can move faster — and farther — than traditional models predict.
That dynamic helps explain why so many silver price forecasts failed to keep up with reality in 2025.
What We’re Watching Next
Silver crossed $100. Mike’s triple-digit forecast proved accurate. Wall Street’s projections look conservative. Now what?
In Best Investment of 2026? Silver’s Setup Is Hard to Ignore, Alan Hibbard breaks down whether silver’s current momentum has room to run — or whether we’re approaching a natural pause.
He covers the technical setup, industrial demand dynamics, and the monetary conditions that brought prices here. Most importantly, he explains what would need to shift for this trend to reverse.
If you’re wondering whether today’s prices represent opportunity or risk, this is where to start.
The Bigger Takeaway for Investors
Looking back at the 2025 silver forecasts offers a valuable lesson. Price targets are useful, but they are not substitutes for understanding underlying drivers. Investors who focused on monetary trends, supply constraints, and long-term value — rather than headline numbers — were better positioned for what followed.
Silver’s move serves as a reminder that markets rarely ring a bell at turning points. By the time consensus catches up, much of the opportunity has already passed.
For investors seeking to understand where precious metals fit in a diversified portfolio, revisiting silver’s recent history may be one of the most instructive case studies we’ve seen in years.
Investing in Physical Metals Made Easy
People Also Ask
What were the major bank silver price forecasts for 2025?
Major banks projected silver reaching $42-$65 per ounce through 2026. UBS initially forecast $42 with upside to $55, Bank of America predicted $65, and Citi expected prices around $42. All of these forecasts proved conservative when silver crossed $100 in January 2026.
Did Mike Maloney predict triple-digit silver?
Yes. Throughout 2025, Mike Maloney consistently called for triple-digit silver prices, producing over a dozen videos explaining why fundamentals pointed toward $100+ silver. His forecast was validated in January 2026 when silver crossed $100 per ounce, surpassing all major Wall Street projections.
Why did Wall Street’s silver forecasts miss the 2025 move?
Most institutional forecasts assume relatively stable monetary conditions and extrapolate recent trends forward. They struggled to account for the simultaneous acceleration of inflation expectations, currency weakness, and industrial demand—dynamics that caused silver to move faster and farther than traditional models predicted.
When did silver hit $100 per ounce?
Silver crossed $100 per ounce in January 2026, just months after major banks were projecting peak prices between $42 and $65. This surge validated predictions from analysts like Mike Maloney who based forecasts on long-term fundamentals rather than near-term price trends.
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