Eric Sepanek
SBC Founder
Eric Sepanek is the founder of Scottsdale Bullion & Coin, established in 2011. With extensive experience in the precious metals industry, he is dedicated to educating Americans on the wealth preservation power of gold and silver.
Citigroup forecasts a 13% surge in silver prices in 2025, even suggesting the shiny metal could outperform gold in the latter half of the year. The bank raised its benchmark following silver’s recent spike, blowing past 14-year peaks and capitalizing on impressive first-half gains. Analysts cite booming demand from industrial and investment sources, mining and supply challenges, and shifting investor behavior as major boons to silver prices.
Analysts Raise Silver Price Target to $43
In a recent note to investors, Citigroup analyst Max Layton upped the bank’s 3-month silver price forecast to $40/oz and 6-12 month forecast to $43/oz. The shiny metal is already up roughly 30% year-to-date, staying neck and neck with the gold rally. However, analysts indicate that silver might be breaking out from this tight race with prices soaring above 14-year highs and reaching $39.
This relative outperformance has squeezed the gold-to-silver ratio closer to historic levels. This metric, which tracks how many ounces of silver are needed to buy one ounce of gold, spiked to 100:1 at the beginning of the year. Following gold’s plateauing price action and silver’s surge, the spread snapped back to 85:1. This reflects a 17.65% gain for silver against gold.
Demand Surge and the Green Tech Factor
Rising demand across industrial applications and investment sources is a key support for elevated silver prices. Citigroup underscores the green tech sector’s disproportionate impact, with solar energy expected to account for nearly 100% of available silver by 2050.
The increased usage of electricity in infrastructure is also chipping away at the silver supply. Analysts view the shiny metal playing a much more central role in the energy transition story than gold, leading to heightened consumption and stronger momentum.
Tight Supply & Thinning Inventories
Silver’s double role as an industrial and investment metal weighs heavily on a strained supply. The market is reeling from four consecutive years of consumption outstripping available resources, and the Silver Institute expects 2025 to mark the fifth year of supply deficit.
The silver mining sector, which provides the majority of physical silver, faces a series of hurdles, including supply-chain bottlenecks, limiting mining expansion, and cost-prohibitive startup expenses.
Citigroup’s Layton views this as a structural problem: “We expect silver availability to tighten on consecutive years of deficit, sticky stockholders requiring higher prices to sell, and robust investment demand.”
Investor Behavior Is Shifting
Silver’s rising investment demand stems from diverse sources, as both institutional and retail investors boost their holdings. The World Silver Survey 2025 reported a 21% year-over-year jump in overall investment purchases, reaching the highest point in more than a decade.
This is reflected by rising interest across the board. Silver ETF holdings leapt 7% in the first half of 2025, COMEX silver futures open interest climbed 12%, and bullion purchases rose by 15%, especially in the West.
Heightened macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical instability are behind the major shift in investor sentiment. With the looming potential of stagflation, interest rates appearing to plateau, and trade tensions rising, investors are rotating out of riskier assets and into traditional safe havens. Silver is drawing much of that renewed attention.
How high will silver go?
With the yellow metal surging to all-time highs and the gold-to-silver ratio contracting, many people understand silver’s strength in relation to gold. However, Citigroup analysts stress that the shiny metal’s surge is “not just a catch-up trade to gold.”
Silver is propped up by robust fundamentals amid skyrocketing, dual-source demand and limited supply. The bank’s projection of $43/oz within the next year is mirrored by equally bullish 2025 silver predictions from experts across various disciplines.