Peter Krauth Sees Silver Reaching $80 to $85 Before Year-End

Silver has decisively broken above the once-formidable $50 barrier, but Peter Krauth believes the bull market still has room to run. That ceiling had defined the market since 1980, when the Hunt brothers' attempt to corner the silver market briefly pushed prices near $50, and again in 2011, when prices approached but failed to sustain that level during the last major precious-metals rally.

Speaking on a recent Money Metals podcast interview with host Mike Maharrey, Krauth argued that strong investment demand, industrial consumption, depleted exchange inventories, and emerging technologies continue to support higher silver prices.

Krauth edits the Silver Stock Investor newsletter and is the author of The Great Silver Bull. Maharrey described the book as one of the best overall guides to the silver market.

(Interview Starts Around 8:36 Mark)

Silver's Next Stop Could Be $80 to $85

Silver traded just below $70 as Maharrey and Krauth recorded the interview, a level Krauth characterized as moderately underpriced. He expects the metal to reach approximately $80 to $85 before the end of 2026. He stopped short of calling for an immediate move to $90 or $100, describing his forecast as a more realistic reflection of current market conditions.

Silver's strength stems from its hybrid nature. Roughly half of demand is tied to monetary and investment uses, while the other half comes from industry. That dual role distinguishes silver from gold, which is overwhelmingly a monetary and investment asset, and means silver's price responds both to safe-haven flows and to the industrial cycle. Krauth said both sides of that market are currently providing strong support.

The move above $50 represents a historic change. Only a year ago, silver remained around $40 and had not broken through a price ceiling that had held for roughly 45 years. Krauth now views $50 as silver's new floor. The metal repeatedly tested approximately $55 during the summer without returning to its previous all-time high — resilience that Krauth reads as a bullish signal. Barring a major "black swan" event, he does not expect silver to trade below $50 again.

Why Supply Deficits Took Time to Move the Price

Silver has recorded several consecutive annual supply deficits, leaving some investors wondering why prices did not rise sooner. According to Krauth, the answer lies in the large stockpiles accumulated during earlier years of oversupply. Surplus metal flowed into exchanges and trading hubs such as the COMEX, the London Bullion Market Association, and Shanghai.

When annual deficits began emerging around 2020 or 2021, industrial users and other large buyers did not necessarily need miners to produce additional silver; they could purchase metal already stored in exchange inventories at prevailing prices. If silver traded at $20, for example, buyers could acquire existing inventory for approximately $20 without placing immediate pressure on mine production. This allowed deficits to persist while muting their effect on the market price.

That inventory buffer has since eroded. Krauth said exchange stockpiles began falling dramatically in early 2021. COMEX inventories increased near the end of 2025, but silver's subsequent "mania phase" produced another major drawdown, returning inventories to lows seen during the last several years. With less above-ground silver readily available, persistent deficits are becoming more consequential, and Krauth believes depleted inventories are helping keep prices elevated.

Do Official Deficit Figures Understate Demand?

The Silver Institute, an industry research body whose annual World Silver Survey is widely cited as the benchmark for supply-and-demand data, releases its market survey each April. According to Krauth, its figures showed a deficit of approximately 150 million ounces in one recent year, followed by about 50 million ounces in 2025. The organization forecast a deficit of roughly 55 million ounces for 2026, which would mark a sixth consecutive annual shortfall.

Those figures do not include silver flowing into exchange-traded funds. ETF purchases appear as a separate category because the metal is not physically consumed and could eventually return to the market.

Krauth questions that methodology. Physical investment products such as silver coins and bars are included in deficit calculations even though they, too, are held rather than consumed — dealers can repurchase those products and resell them to other investors. Silver purchased by an ETF is likewise removed from readily available supplies, since it must be acquired and stored to support the fund's shares.

When Krauth added ETF inflows to the calculation, he found that the 2025 silver deficit exceeded 300 million ounces — by that measure, the largest single annual silver deficit on record.

ETF metal can theoretically reenter the market, but Krauth described silver ETF holdings as historically "sticky," with investors frequently buying these positions and holding them for extended periods. With ETF inventories building again, he believes conventional deficit estimates may significantly understate total silver demand.

Solar Power Remains a Major Source of Consumption

Industrial demand for silver continues to expand, particularly in solar energy. Photovoltaics are the single largest component of silver's industrial demand, which itself accounts for roughly half of total consumption. Maharrey cited an estimate that solar-panel adoption in Africa would rise 45 percent in 2026.

Krauth compared Africa's solar expansion with the earlier spread of cellular service across developing countries: mobile networks reduced the need to install physical cables everywhere, and solar panels similarly allow communities to generate electricity without first connecting every home to a large centralized grid.

Research from the energy group Ember illustrates solar power's improving economics. Krauth described a scenario in which $100 million could purchase enough natural gas to generate 1.5 terawatts of energy for one year, while the same $100 million could provide 1.5 terawatts through solar energy. Unlike natural gas, however, the solar panels could continue producing electricity for approximately 25 years.

Existing natural-gas plants still represent major capital investments, but utilities, governments, households, and data-center operators planning new capacity have strong financial incentives to consider solar.

Will Copper Replace Silver in Solar Panels?

Some manufacturers are exploring copper as a substitute for silver in photovoltaic cells. Krauth acknowledged the risk but believes concerns about substitution remain overstated.

Copper is less efficient than silver and vulnerable to corrosion. Manufacturers would also need to make large capital investments, retool production facilities, and potentially suspend operations for months to change technologies. Durability matters to solar customers: buyers expect panels to operate for 10 or 20 years, not merely three to five. Meanwhile, some newer and more efficient photovoltaic technologies require more silver rather than less. Krauth wants to see evidence of substitution occurring on a large commercial scale before concluding it will materially reduce demand.

Recent energy disruptions have also accelerated interest in alternatives. Krauth said the loss of 20 percent of the world's oil supply following the conflict with Iran affected gasoline, heating oil, chemicals, and other petroleum derivatives.

Octopus Energy, the United Kingdom's largest electricity provider, reportedly saw its solar-panel sales jump 50 percent in February and March 2026. China's silver imports reached a record in March, approximately doubling the previous monthly high. That same month, 50 countries purchased record quantities of solar panels from China.

Energy insecurity can support silver even when countries continue using oil. Businesses and governments may pay premiums for dependable supplies, sign longer contracts, or move production closer to home. Those actions raise costs and increase inflationary pressure, strengthening silver's monetary appeal.

AI, Electric Vehicles, and Medicine Add New Demand

Even if solar demand eventually plateaus, Krauth expects electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, and data centers to absorb more silver.

Silver is the most conductive metal for both electricity and heat. It is used in processors, switching equipment, servers, and other components where reliability is essential. Data-center failures are extremely expensive, making silver's superior performance particularly valuable.

Krauth is also fascinated by silver's medical uses. Silver is a biocide capable of killing germs and bacteria without losing effectiveness as microorganisms adapt. Silver nanoparticles can be incorporated into medical products such as corneal replacements to reduce infection risks, and operating rooms and other medical environments rely on the metal's antimicrobial properties.

With applications spanning energy, transportation, computing, and healthcare, Krauth sees little reason to worry about overall industrial demand.

Krauth Announces a New Vancouver Investment Summit

Krauth directs investors to TheGoldAdvisor.com, where he works with analyst Jeff Clark. The site features their research and newsletters covering precious metals and mining investments.

Krauth's book, The Great Silver Bull, provides an introduction to physical silver and silver-mining stocks. Maharrey praised it as a practical handbook suitable for both new investors and experienced fund managers.

Krauth also announced the inaugural Gold Advisor Investor Summit, scheduled for November 5, 2026, in Vancouver. The free, one-day event will feature several dozen companies and cover gold, silver, copper, lithium, uranium, and the broader mining sector.

His central message was clear: silver has already overcome the $50 barrier that skeptics once considered nearly insurmountable, but the combination of investment demand, depleted inventories, industrial growth, and monetary uncertainty suggests the bull market is not finished. Listeners tracking this thesis will be watching the Silver Institute's next annual survey, due in April, for confirmation of how large the deficits actually are, along with the pace of ETF inflows and any large-scale copper substitution in solar manufacturing.