If you’d told a silver stacker two years ago that we’d be staring down triple digits, they probably would’ve laughed you out of the coin shop. But here we are on Saturday, January 17, 2026, and the "devil’s metal" is doing exactly what it does best: making everyone nervous and excited at the same time.
Right now, the live silver spot price is hovering around $90.12 per ounce.
It's been a wild ride this week. We actually saw silver scream past $93 just a few days ago before hitting a bit of a speed bump. Honestly, the market is a bit of a powder keg. If you're looking at the charts, you'll see a bid-ask spread that's tighter than a drum, with most major exchanges like Kitco and JM Bullion showing a bid around **$90.04** and an ask near $90.88.
Why is this happening? Basically, it’s a perfect storm of industrial desperation and global jitters.
How Much Is Silver Today Per Ounce and Why Is It Moving?
Silver isn't just for jewelry or those dusty coins in your grandad's attic anymore. It’s the literal backbone of the green energy transition. You've got solar panel manufacturers in China and EV giants in the U.S. essentially fighting over the same dwindling pile of metal.
Earlier this week, silver hit an all-time high of $93.90.
That was the peak. Since then, we've seen a slight "cooling off" period. Traders call this profit-taking. I call it catching your breath before the next sprint. The dip to the current $90.12 range isn't necessarily a sign of weakness; it’s more about the market digesting those massive 25% gains we've seen just in the first two weeks of 2026.
The Real Drivers Behind Today's Price
- Industrial Hunger: AI data centers are sucking up silver for high-efficiency electrical contacts.
- The Fed Factor: Everyone is betting on interest rate cuts because U.S. inflation (CPI) finally looks like it’s behaving, hitting around 2.7% recently.
- The Supply Deficit: This is the big one. We are in the fifth straight year where the world uses more silver than it digs out of the ground.
Mining is a slow business. You can't just flip a switch and get more silver. About 75% of silver comes as a byproduct of mining other things like copper or lead. So, even if the price of silver doubles, a copper miner isn't going to upend their entire operation just to grab a little extra silver.
The $100 Question: Is It Realistic?
There is a lot of chatter about silver hitting $100 per ounce before the year is out. Honestly, it’s not just "moonboy" talk anymore. Analysts at BMO Capital Markets and even some of the more conservative folks at HSBC are acknowledging that the structural shortage is real.
But silver is famously volatile. It’s the "poor man's gold," sure, but it moves like a caffeinated squirrel.
We saw a 7.5% surge in a single session on January 16th. That’s massive. However, history shows that when silver overshoots, it can pull back hard. Technical analysts, like Fawad Razaqzada, are pointing toward $80.00 as a "line in the sand." If it stays above that, the path to $100 looks clear. If it drops below, we might be looking at a messy correction back to the $70s.
What You'll Actually Pay (The Premium Problem)
When you see the spot price at $90.12, don't expect to walk into a shop and buy a 1-ounce American Eagle for that. Premiums are still pretty high. For example, right now:
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- American Silver Eagles are selling for closer to $96.35.
- Canadian Maple Leafs are around $93.83.
- 100 oz Bars offer the best "bang for your buck," usually priced around $9,138 (which is about $91.38 per ounce).
What To Do Next
If you're looking to buy, keep a close eye on the $88.50 support level. We've seen some resilience there. If the price holds that floor over the next few trading days, the momentum might carry us back toward the $93 resistance.
For those holding physical metal, the current volatility is a test of nerves. The "smart money" is watching the U.S. dollar and the latest news on potential import tariffs. If the dollar stays weak, silver stays strong.
Check the live charts every few hours if you're day-trading, but if you're a long-term stacker, the big picture is the deficit. As long as we're using more than we're mining, the long-term trend for the price per ounce remains aggressively upward. Keep an eye on the gold-to-silver ratio as well; it's currently shifting in a way that suggests silver still has more "catching up" to do compared to gold's recent performance.