Silver is two things at once
Silver is held as a precious-metal asset like gold, but it is also consumed industrially, and on a scale gold is not: solar-panel manufacture has grown into one of the largest single industrial uses, alongside electrical contacts and switches, brazing alloys, medical applications and a long tail of smaller ones. Much of that silver is used in quantities too small to recover economically, so it leaves the market for good. When the global industrial cycle is strong, demand pulls silver one way; when investment money rotates between precious metals and other assets, it pulls another. That is why silver typically moves more than gold in percentage terms.
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The gold–silver ratio
A common shorthand is the gold-to-silver ratio: how many ounces of silver one ounce of gold buys. Historically the ratio has wandered between about 30:1 (silver strong) and 100:1 (silver weak), with the long-run average closer to 60:1. When the ratio is high, silver looks cheap relative to gold; when it is low, silver looks rich. The ratio is descriptive, not predictive, but it is a useful single number to track.
The dollar and the gold market
Silver is priced in US dollars globally, so a stronger pound usually means lower headline GBP silver prices and vice versa, all else equal. Silver also tracks gold loosely. Most of the precious-metal investment flow goes into gold first, with silver following on with sharper moves. A gold rally over months usually drags silver up; a gold sell-off usually drags silver down.
What this means for UK sellers
Silver is more volatile, so the headline market number you see today may be quite different in a fortnight. Consumer silver also carries a wider gap between the headline market price and what a buyer can offer than gold does, because refining lower-purity silver into investment-grade metal costs comparatively more. None of this is a reason to rush, or to wait. Take an indicative figure, weigh it against the written offer when it arrives, and decide.
Common questions
Should I sell silver now or wait?
No one, including us, can reliably predict silver. The answer is: take a current indicative figure, accept or decline, and treat the market like the weather rather than a strategy.
Why is a silver offer well below the headline silver price?
Industrial-grade refining and the lower-purity feedstock of consumer silver mean a larger margin than gold. The same is true at most reputable buyers.
Does GoldPaid track the silver price daily?
Yes. Final offers reflect the live precious-metal market on the day we assay, not a price from the week before.
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