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Silver prices today, Friday, August 21, 2026: Silver pushes higher on weaker dollar

Silver (SI=F) September futures opened at $68.20 per ounce on Friday, August 21, 2026, up 0.1% from Thursday's closing price. By 9 a.m. ET, the silver price had moved higher to $69.49.

The opening silver price was up nearly 5% from a week earlier as traders reacted to a record high in U.S. debt and the Treasury's unexpected announcement that it would increase long-term bond repurchases. The Treasury has conducted regular buyback operations since launching them in 2024 as a liquidity-management tool for older, less-traded securities, so the announcement represented an expansion of an existing program rather than a new mechanism. The news contributed to a decline in the U.S. dollar. A weaker dollar tends to support higher silver prices because it lowers the cost for foreign buyers.

Silver, like gold, can serve as a safe-haven asset for investors, but its supply-and-demand structure is different. Most silver is mined as a byproduct of other metals, which means producers do not necessarily adjust output to match demand. Silver demand also comes from both investment and industrial uses, with industrial applications ranging from electronics and brazing alloys to the photovoltaic cells used in solar panels, a segment that has grown in recent years as solar capacity has expanded. Silver's market is also far smaller than gold's, so comparable flows of investor money can move prices more sharply. Those factors can make silver more volatile and harder to predict than gold.

Current price of silver

The opening price of silver futures on Friday, August 21, 2026, was 0.1% higher than Thursday's closing price. Here's how today's opening price compares with last week, last month, and last year:

• One week ago: +4.9%
• One month ago: +21.1%
• One year ago: +79.3%

For context, silver's year-over-year growth was 173.3% on May 14.

You can track the current price of silver on Yahoo Finance 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you want to learn more about companies in the silver industry, Yahoo Finance also offers a screener with more than 150 screening criteria.

Investing in silver? Here's how taxes work.

Silver is a capital asset, so if you sell it for more than you paid, the gain is taxable and reported on Schedule D of your federal return.

Many investors assume that holding silver for more than a year qualifies it for the same long-term capital gains rates that apply to stocks, which are 0%, 15%, or 20%.

That is not the case.

The 28% collectible tax trap

The IRS classifies physical precious metals — including bars, rounds, and coins — as collectibles. That classification changes the tax treatment. The collectibles treatment can also apply to certain exchange-traded products structured as grantor trusts that hold physical bullion. Silver futures, by contrast, fall under the Section 1256 rules, which tax 60% of any gain at the long-term rate and 40% at the short-term rate regardless of how long the contract is held.

Short-term gains

If you hold silver for one year or less, your profit is taxed as ordinary income. Depending on your tax bracket, that rate can be as high as 37%.

Long-term gains

If you hold silver for more than a year, your gain is taxed at your ordinary income rate, but no more than 28%.

In practice, that means:

• If you are in the 10%, 12%, 22%, or 24% bracket, your silver gain is taxed at that same rate.
• If you are in the 32%, 35%, or 37% bracket, your rate is capped at 28%.

For middle-income earners who are used to paying 15% on stock gains, silver can cost more, potentially 22% or 24%, depending on adjusted gross income. For taxpayers in the top brackets, the 28% cap is technically lower than 35% or 37%, but it is still above the 20% maximum long-term capital gains rate on stocks. That difference can become significant on five- or six-figure gains.

Learn more: How to avoid taxes when investing in silver

Price of silver chart

Whether you are tracking silver prices since last month or last year, the chart below shows the precious metal's performance so far this year.

(SI=F)

More silver coverage from the Yahoo Finance team:

• 5 ways to invest in silver for beginners
• Silver price volatility: What to know and how to invest in 2026
• Silver vs. gold: Which metal made investors more money in the last 50 years?
• 3 predictions about silver prices in the next decade
• Why is silver outperforming gold? What to know before you invest.
• How to invest in silver in 5 steps
• Silver price predictions: What can investors expect over the next 10 years?
• Investing in silver or other metals? Here's how to avoid taxes.