Yesterday, I covered the extraordinary rise of gold over the past 12 months, and three ways you can invest in the precious metal in 2026. While gold's 70%-plus rise has been shockingly lucrative, its less-illustrious precious metal sibling, silver, has done even better.
Silver's ascent over just the past 12 months alone has been truly extraordinary. This time last year, the white metal was going for just under US$31 an ounce. Today, that same ounce will cost an investor a record high of US$97.60. Yep, silver has more than tripled in the past year.
Silver's status as a precious, investment-grade metal has coupled with growing demand in future-facing technologies such as data centres, semiconductors, solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles to push it up to these unprecedented heights. So it's fair to say that many investors would be looking to get a slice of the action.
If that's you, you might want to hear about two ways you can buy silver in 2026.
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Three ways to buy silver in 2026
Silver bullion
The traditional way to own silver is still the preferred path for many investors. That would be buying physical silver bullion in the form of bars, ingots or coins. Just like gold, investors can buy silver in its physical form from bullion shops and the like. For true precious metal enthusiasts, having the metal in one's possession is the only way to fully realise the benefits of investing in silver. There's nothing quite like owning your own cache.
However, buying real silver is the costliest way of investing in the precious metal. Firstly, you'll be paying a spread over the metal's market price, plus extra if you are paying for numismatic value. Then there are transportation, storage and insurance costs to consider. Silver is harder to look after than gold, too, given that it is a reactive metal that can tarnish if not stored correctly.
This is why many investors prefer other ways of investing in silver.
There's an ETF for that
Like gold, investors who don't wish to take ownership of silver bullion can opt for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) instead. Silver ETFs work in a similar manner to gold funds. Investors buy units of an ETF on the ASX, with each unit representing an ownership stake in a pile of physical silver that is typically stored in a bank vault somewhere. As each unit of the ETF is tied to silver, its price should rise and fall alongside that of the actual metal.
Silver ETFs don't come cheap, at least compared to most stock-based ETFs or index funds. Saying that, this is usually the cheapest way you can get exposure to the precious metal. However, you will never take physical custody of the silver you are investing in, so that might be a dealbreaker for some investors.
But if you do opt for a silver ETF, your best bet on the ASX is probably going to be the Global X Physical Silver Structured ETF (ASX: ETPMAG). This fund charges a management fee of 0.49% per annum. Another option is the largest silver ETF in the world, the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV), if you're open to buying a US-based ETF.
