Silver ETF Report | July 2026

Key Takeaways

Silver had a punishing June, sliding $16.70 per ounce, or -22.18%, to finish at $58.60. That was the steepest one-month drop since September 2011, and the second-quarter loss of $16.57/oz (-22.04%) marked the weakest quarter since the COVID driven panic of early 2020. The move mirrored gold’s slide and reflected the same pressures, namely a more hawkish Fed nudging short-term rates higher alongside a firmer dollar.[1]

The sell-off rattled sentiment but did little to the underlying picture, which still rests on tight supply meeting rising demand. Silver has run a structural deficit for several years, steadily drawing down inventories, and with few sizeable new mines in the pipeline, output stays relatively unresponsive to price even as demand keeps building.

Several durable trends keep demand well supported. Industrial appetite for silver is underpinned by solar manufacturing, the broader electrification push, electric vehicles, AI infrastructure, data centres and an expanding list of other technology uses. Defence demand is also gaining prominence as the metal’s conductivity and strategic value earn greater recognition across military supply chains. Many of these end markets should hold up even if the wider economy loses momentum.

Additionally, silver’s monetary dimension could matter more than many assume. Gold tends to dominate the conversation as the go to monetary metal, yet silver has a long track record of participating whenever currencies are debased or monetary confidence wavers. Against that backdrop, it stands to gain as a store of value alternative, effectively offering a higher-beta play on the very forces driving gold.

Conditions in the physical market look supportive as well. Thin inventories and continued strain on deliveries point to physical demand that remains robust relative to what is actually available. And as metal increasingly makes its way to Asian buyers and outright ownership grows in importance, the influence of paper-market pricing may well fade over time.

It is worth stressing that a swing of this magnitude is nothing new for silver. With a smaller, less liquid market than gold, the metal has always been considerably more volatile, and steep drawdowns are a routine feature of its bull markets rather than a sign that the thesis has broken. Indeed, some of silver’s biggest rallies have arrived on the heels of exactly this kind of turbulence and investor fatigue.

The bottom line is that June looked far worse on the tape than in the fundamentals. The decline was a sentiment shock driven by the Fed and the dollar rather than by any deterioration in supply or demand, and the same forces that pulled silver lower could reverse just as quickly should the rate outlook soften. For investors able to look through the volatility, episodes like this have historically marked opportunity rather than warning.

Macro Outlook

Silver’s long-term outlook is no longer solely defined by its historical role as a high-beta companion to gold. It is being reshaped by a convergence of structural forces including energy security imperatives, accelerating solar deployment, the broader electrification push, and the embedding of silver into critical infrastructure that is difficult to substitute and politically difficult to reverse. The result is a market in which silver demand is increasingly anchored by policy-driven investment cycles, rather than by discretionary industrial consumption that ebbs and flows with the business cycle.

Supply, by contrast, has barely moved. Mine production has been effectively flat for a decade even as prices climbed, largely because most silver is produced as a byproduct of lead, zinc, copper and gold operations, where producers have little incentive to flex output when silver rallies.[2] The result has been years of consecutive market deficits,[3] bridged only by drawing down above-ground inventories that are now materially depleted. With few sizeable new mines in the pipeline, supply stays relatively unresponsive to price even as demand keeps building.

For pure-play silver miners, this backdrop has generated AISC margins that are unprecedented over the past decade, with all-in sustaining costs sitting well below the prevailing spot price. That margin profile gives investors meaningful operating leverage to silver, which is why silver miners have generally outperformed in silver bull markets.

The constructive supply backdrop does not come without volatility. Speculative positioning, leveraged derivative flows, and concentrated activity by large trading entities have amplified short-term price swings, creating a tug of war between fundamental buyers and tactical speculators. However, these dislocations sit on top of a market that has undergone a meaningful re-rating, driven by years of accumulated undervaluation and the continuously deepening structural supply deficit. In this context, near-term turbulence is better understood as part of an ongoing adjustment process rather than a reversal of the broader macro thesis.

Key risks

  • The exploration and development of mineral deposits involve significant financial risks over a significant period of time, which even a combination of careful evaluation, experience and knowledge may not eliminate.
  • Few properties which are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines.
  • Major expenditures may be required to establish reserves by drilling and to construct mining and processing facilities at a site.
  • Mineral exploration companies typically operate at a loss and are dependent on securing equity and/or debt financing, which might be more difficult to secure for an exploration company than for a more established counterpart.
  • Investors’ capital is fully at risk and may not get back the amount originally invested. Exchange rates can have a positive or negative effect on returns.
  • For a complete overview of all the risks, please refer to the “Risk Factors” in the Prospectus.

[1] Source: Sprott Asset Management, Bloomberg. Data as of 30.06.2026

[2] Source: Sprott Asset Management

[3] https://silverinstitute.org/global-silver-investment-to-remain-strong-in-2026-against-the-backdrop-of-a-sixth-consecutive-annual-market-deficit/

IMPORTANT INFORMATION This document is approved for professional use only.

Communications issued in the UK

The content in this document is issued by HANetf Limited (“HANetf”) and approved by Privium Fund Management (UK) Limited (“Privium”). HANetf is an appointed representative of Privium, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The registered office of Privium is The Shard, 24th Floor, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG

This communication has been prepared for professional investors, but the exchange traded product (“ETCs”) and exchange traded fund (“ETFs”) set out in this communication (“Products”) may be available in some jurisdictions to any investors. Please check with your broker or intermediary that the relevant Product is available in your jurisdiction and suitable for your investment profile.

Disclaimers

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. The price of the Products may vary and they do not offer a fixed income. This document may contain forward looking statements including statements regarding our belief or current expectations with regards to the performance of certain assets classes. Forward looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. There can be no assurance that such statements will be accurate and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Therefore, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The content of this document is for information purposes and for your internal use only, and does not constitute an investment advice, recommendation, investment research or an offer for sale nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any Product or make any investment.

An investment in an exchange traded product is dependent on the performance of the underlying asset class, less costs, but it is not expected to track that performance exactly. The Products involve numerous risks including among others, general market risks relating to underlying adverse price movements in an Index (for ETFs) or underlying asset class and currency, liquidity, operational, legal and regulatory risks. In addition, in relation to Cryptocurrency ETCs, these are highly volatile digital assets and performance is unpredictable.

How to Buy