Silver Breaks $50 as Global Shortage Deepens: What U.S. Consumers Need to Know About the New Bullion Boom
- Silver hit a historic milestone: Silver officially closed above $50 an ounce — the highest nominal weekly close ever in U.S. dollars. It’s a major psychological mark the market’s been eyeing for years.
- London’s running short on big silver bars: 1,000-ounce bars — the kind traded between banks and refiners — are in tight supply. Lease rates in London skyrocketed to levels not seen since Warren Buffett’s silver play back in 1998.
- A global silver shortage is years in the making: The world has faced a silver supply deficit for five straight years, totaling roughly 800 million ounces of unmet demand. Industrial users and investors are both competing for the same metal.
- Institutions are circling the silver market: Large money managers are eyeing silver as momentum builds, and many believe the next leg higher could take prices beyond $50 as demand keeps growing.
- Industrial demand is now the driver: About 80% of silver use today comes from industries like solar, electronics, and medical tech — with solar panels alone consuming record volumes.
- U.S. refiners are feeling the squeeze: Some U.S. silver refineries have paused melting down old coins and silverware because they simply can’t keep up with the sellbacks and tight physical supply.
- Gold’s quietly breaking records too: Gold hit around $4,000 per ounce — with some analysts projecting it could reach $5,000 next year if central banks keep buying at record levels.
- Silver and gold remain scarce: Between industrial growth, central bank demand, and tightening supply chains, physical metals are proving why they’ve held value for centuries — especially when paper markets get shaky.
- The Royal Canadian Mint is leading the charge: They’ve become the world’s top sovereign mint, ramping up capacity with new silver blanking lines and expanding product offerings to meet global demand.
- Younger and more diverse buyers are joining in: The Royal Canadian Mint sees a growing wave of younger and first-time buyers discovering gold and silver — often drawn in through mainstream media or social trends around hard assets.
From London’s silver squeeze to record-breaking gold highs, supply deficits and surging industrial demand are reshaping the precious metals market—here’s why more Americans are paying attention to real, physical gold and silver.
+$50 oz SILVER as London Lease Rates Signal SHORT SQUEEZE
Record nominal weekly silver price close in fiat USD is now accomplished.
And what is this about surging lease rates?!
Looks like London is now running into shortages of 1,000 oz silver bars.
How do we know this?
Because London Silver Lease rates exploded this week to levels not seen since Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway raided the silver market back in early 1998 to complete his then 129 million oz silver bullion position.
Well, for the world silver markets in 2025.
This isn't 1998, no, it's not 1980, and no, it's not some pip squeak 2011 silver bull market either.
RICO suave short silver commercial bank desks are unlikely to come to the rescue this time around.
Because this time, the world is in an ongoing silver supply deficit for now, some five years running, with no end in sight. To the tune of nearly -800 million oz in outsized demands on silver versus supplies in the 2020s.
And the institutional money managing momentum longs are threatening to come plowing into this silver market as we eventually blow beyond $50 per troy oz.
I find it deeply ironic that this week, when the scapegoated Hunt Brothers' names were called out yet again with half-truth tales galore, 747 cargo jets are reportedly being loaded with 1,000 oz silver bars to be whisked off to London to stem or slow the silver squeeze tide.
This week, the London spot price or cash price seen here, had to climb above the COMEX futures prices to better incentivize 1,000 oz silver bars to begin flying and or floating back to London's tight near no available silver float market to stem demands. Not a full backwardation in the silver market but we are perhaps going there in time.
One month silver lease rates popped this week moving from 7%, 11%, to 20% to as high as nearly 40% from data postings in the public arena that London keeps to opaque in a market the world depends on data to make buy sell choices over.
To see London have a silver shortage scandal explode into the public arena and consciousness near $50 oz is rich, indeed.
Nope, no London, let's have you say it in this classic Bart Simpson meme yet again.
The spot silver price in fiat US dollar terms, hit a new nominal record price high yesterday, Thursday October 9th, 2025 of $51.22 oz.
Let me say that one more time, let it sink in silver bulls.
The spot silver price in fiat US dollar terms, hit a new nominal record price high yesterday, Thursday October 9th, 2025 of $51.22 oz.
We saw some unsecured Indian silver ETFs have to halt new investment inflows this week given bar shortages in their local markets. Not surprising Indians are getting very bullish silver looking for a catchup rally versus gold.
The spot silver and gold markets traded bullishly on the week.
The spot silver price ended the week at $50.11 oz bid, and the spot gold price closed the week at $4,012 oz bid.
Yes, we still have a historically high spot gold silver ratio of 80, which was this week's close.
In such a historic week for silver, it was well timed to get drive over to SD Bullion depository and pick pack ship headquarters and spend some time with two executives from the Royal Canadian Mint.
In the following conversation we touched on spiking lease rates and how that affects their bullion minting business.
Thanks to RCM's Chief Commercial Officer Tom Froggat and the Bullion Sales Managing Director Lorne Whitmore for taking the time to sit down with me and you all for the next ten minutes as we run through some of this week's headlines and how and why the Royal Canadian Mint has been able to garner so much worldwide bullion buy side market share the world over.
So let's quickly review where we are in this historic Weekly Bullion Market Update.
The over leveraged COMEX threw 1.1 billion oz of paper silver contracts at prices today. Yea that's the annual silver supply trading in one session alone. That's how desperate the silver shorts are at the moment.
We still got a $50 oz spot price close and Silver Wrestle Mania kicking off in London 2025 to 2026.
A nominal $4,000 oz gold price continues one that fiat financialized normies can't seem to understand still.
And the spot Gold Silver Ratio quietly broke below the nominal 80 level this week, signaling just how much rocket fuel is still in the tank for the bullion bull market mania phase to come.
I know I'm entertained, I'm betting you are too, so smash the LIKE.
We'll be right back with US silver refineries saying no more 90% silver coins or silverware melt news.
And some longer term PM charts with some shorter term takes on what is happening in the monetary precious metals markets at the moment.
Yes we still have a historically high spot gold silver ratio of 80 which was this week's close.
US Silver refinery industry news this week, various reports of major silver refineries stating no more 90% Constitutional silver coin melts and or 90% silverware melts for now.
We always knew there would be another oncoming wave of weak handed silver sellers as we approached the nominal $50 oz price high level. It seems the neglected too far consolidated US silver refining industry cannot keep up with brick mortar 90% silver sellbacks.
Don't act we didn't warn you these days were coming way back in December 2019, nearly six years ago.
Back to the present week, Citi's Max Layton went on Bloomberg late this week and hammered home their increasingly bullish thesis for silver moving forward. Have a listen to his measured take.
Well, let me help on that Max.
You see I got these fresh long term charts from the grand master precious metals chart maker down under, Mr. Nick Laird who has this pretty Gold vs Silver price history look spanning US financial history.
In every major bullion bull market when silver doesn't get artificially rigged low like the 1930s Great Depression, well typically silver eventually plays catch up to gold. And we might be stumbling into one of those moments right around the corner.
Platinum is still relatively cheap on a historical basis versus gold, so I would consider some of that given it is also in an ongoing market deficit and China continues buying it hand over fist at the moment.
Goldbug Sachs is now calling for nearly $5000 oz gold later next year.
Is the Australian website Discovery Alert's forecast of central banks buying 1300 tons of gold reserves this year in 2025 is accurate, in the face of $3000 oz gold.
Well that would be another record gold bullion haul for government balance sheets adding some 41.8 million ounces of gold bullion over bonds the main driver knowing the record debt and unfunded liability math.
Delusional AI bloated US stonk bulls out there should keep in mind this 21st Century you have lost to gold bullion and that will likely continue as the nominal S&P 500 and spot gold price again reach 1 to 1 parity as has happened more often than not in our nation's financial history.
Silver in fiat Swiss francs still needs to nearly double nominally to merely meet its old 1980 price high.
So yes, silver bullion is still relatively cheap for now.
A similar story over in Japan, but Bruce Ikemizu is slamming the table for Japanese precious metals bulls and judging by their ETF inflows, they are listening in the land of the rising sun.
References:
Seeing Early Signs of Silver Outperforming Gold: Citi's Layton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yadpOyGRSz8
