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Silver is usually thought of as the award for second place, but during the fourth quarter of 2025, it moved firmly into first place in the precious metals race. Based on prices this morning, the iShares Silver ETF (SLV) has now rallied nearly 138% YTD. For much of the first five months of the year, silver trailed gold and/or platinum. In early June, platinum surged past gold and silver for the lead, but in the last few weeks, silver has taken the lead again with a rally that platinum and gold haven't been able to match.

In the chart below, we have also included the performance of the S&P 500 (SPY) and Bitcoin (IBIT). The S&P 500's 16.7% YTD gain looks pedestrian relative to the metals, and Bitcoin's performance has been an embarrassment. Earlier this year, there was so much hope for Bitcoin on the assumption that President Trump would be the most crypto-friendly President that the country has ever seen. It's been less than a year so far, so there's still plenty of time, but at this point, Bitcoin hasn't lived up to the hype.

Looking at the chart above, silver prices have really surged over the last month, rallying more than 40%. That's the largest one-month gain since August 2020. Before that, the only other times, outside of late 1979/early 1980 when the Hunt Brothers attempted to corner the market, that silver experienced similar or larger one-month rallies were in late 2025, early 1987, and September 1982.

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