What’s the Next Price Milestone for Silver? Why $200 Is Not Out of Reach

For decades, silver has played second fiddle to gold—overlooked, underappreciated, and volatile. But in today’s monetary climate, it stands on the edge of what could be one of the most significant revaluations in modern financial history. Analyst Mike Maloney contends that silver isn’t just undervalued—it’s structurally mispriced. The question now isn’t if silver will move higher, but where the next price milestone lies. According to Maloney, US$200 per ounce is a realistic target in the not-so-distant future.

His thesis rests on inflation-adjusted comparisons. If silver were measured against true historical purchasing power—rather than the diluted CPI (or as Maloney calls it, the “CP Lie”)—it would already be trading near US$200. This isn’t a speculative leap, but a baseline valuation that reflects its historical role as money. By this measure, silver isn’t just undervalued; it’s deeply suppressed. When the correction comes, Maloney argues, it won’t be gradual. It will be abrupt, outsized, and potentially disorderly.

What makes the current environment unique is the scale and scope of global participation. In 1980, when the Hunt brothers famously cornered the silver market, access was limited and the investor base narrow. Today, Maloney points out, there are 18 times more people globally who can legally buy gold and silver. At the same time, the global supply of fiat currency has increased 55-fold, while gold production has merely doubled. Silver—still both an industrial and monetary metal—is now tied to a vastly larger pool of currency and market participants. The tinder is dry; it only takes a spark.

That spark may well come from central banks. Over the past five years, foreign central banks have quietly accumulated gold at levels not seen since the monetary resets of the 1920s and ’30s. Much of this activity is hidden—tucked into sovereign wealth funds or state-owned banks—making official data incomplete. By stockpiling gold instead of exporting it, nations like China are signalling a strategic shift away from the US dollar standard. While silver isn’t being hoarded in the same way, it tends to follow gold’s lead. As monetary metals often move in tandem, any re-rating of gold's role in the global financial system will likely reverberate through the silver market.

Real interest rates are another key driver. When inflation-adjusted rates turn negative, the opportunity cost of holding bullion disappears—conditions in which both gold and silver historically outperform. With global growth slowing and rate cuts on the horizon, the stage is set for a sustained multi-year bull market. Given its volatility and leverage to gold, silver could deliver larger percentage gains over the same period.

Critics argue that silver’s volatility makes it unsuitable as a core holding. But for investors seeking asymmetric opportunities, that volatility is precisely the point. Gold may be the anchor—but silver is the accelerator. Maloney suggests that 2025 may not be too late to enter the market—it may in fact be the ideal window. While gold has already moved substantially, narrowing its undervaluation, silver appears to be in the early stages of its revaluation.

For bullion investors, the next key milestone isn’t a return to silver’s previous nominal high of US$50, but a move toward its inflation-adjusted range near US$200 (~AU$300). Whether that revaluation comes through a sudden spike or a steady climb, the direction is clear. The pace will depend on monetary policy shocks, central bank actions, and shifts in investor sentiment. In a world of fiat currency and negative real yields, silver stands out as one of the most compelling asymmetric investment opportunities of the decade.