Although you would never know it from reading the headlines, silver has left gold in the dust over the past few years. In fact, over the past decade, the white metal has outperformed its yellow rival, generating cumulative returns of 298% to 286%. It’s in 2025, though, where silver really started to shine, doubling in value compared to 60% gains for gold.
With the white metal trading just under $60 per ounce today, silver is being driven higher by a structural supply deficit that has persisted for four straight years and is projected by the Silver Institute to widen further.
Industrial demand — especially from solar panels, electric vehicles, and 5G infrastructure — now consumes more than half of annual supply, and recycling plus mine production simply cannot keep pace. Add in central-bank buying of physical silver by some nations (particularly Russia and Saudi Arabia), safe-haven flows amid currency worries, and speculative momentum, and the result is the strongest bull market silver has seen in decades.
There are countless ways for investors to play the metal — futures, physical coins, streaming companies, junior miners — but for most people, the cleanest and most liquid vehicles remain exchange-traded funds (ETF). The two standouts to buy right now are iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) and Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:SIL)
iShares Silver Trust (SLV)
The iShares Silver Trust is the largest and most direct way to own silver without taking delivery of a single bar. Launched in 2006, iShares Silver holds physical silver bullion in secure vaults — over 510 million ounces — primarily in London and New York, and tracks the spot price of silver minus a tiny 0.50% annual expense ratio. Every share represents roughly one troy ounce of silver (after fees slowly erode the exact ratio over time).
Because it is backed 100% by allocated metal that is audited and insured, SLV moves almost in lockstep with the actual price of silver. When silver jumped from $43 to $59 in the past three months alone, the ETF climbed from about $38 to over $53 — a near-perfect reflection of the underlying commodity.
Assets under management have ballooned past $29.3 billion, and daily trading volume regularly exceeds 30 million shares, ensuring tight spreads and easy entry or exit even during volatile sessions. For investors who simply want unleveraged exposure to silver itself with no credit risk and no storage headaches, SLV remains the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL)
If you believe margins for silver producers are about to explode higher as the metal stays above $50 to $60 per ounce, the Global X Silver Miners ETF gives you amplified upside. SIL holds a basket of 39 global companies that derive at least 50% of revenue from silver mining or royalties, charging a reasonable 0.65% expense ratio.
The fund is market-cap weighted, so the biggest positions dominate performance, with its top five holdings being:
- Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM): 22.1% of assets
- Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS): 12.2%
- Coeur Mining (NYSE:CDE): 7.8%
- Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL): 5.7%
- Fresnillo (LSE:FRES): 5.2%
These names are highly sensitive to silver prices because mining costs are largely fixed in the short term. A $10 move in silver can swing operating margins by 40% to 60% or more, turning good profits into windfalls.
That leverage explains why SIL has outrun SLV dramatically in 2025—up roughly 142% year-to-date versus SLV’s 100% gain. Of course, the flip side is sharper drawdowns when sentiment turns, but in the current supply-constrained bull market, the miners continue to lead the charge on a surge with no letup in sight.
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