Silver Prices Have Pulled Back, But Bank of America Predicts They Could Soar to $309 Before the End of 2026. How?

Silver July 2026 futures (SIN26) are trading around $72 after pulling back hard from earlier highs. That leaves the contract about 42% below its 2026 peak of $123.45, which it hit in late January. Over the past three months, silver has dropped more than 38%, including a steep 20% fall in March alone.

A lot of that drop came as several pressures hit the market at once. As oil prices jumped after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz and hit Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial complex on March 19, inflation worries picked up again. That in turn pushed Treasury yields higher and sent more money back into the U.S. dollar, which took away some of silver’s appeal as a safe-haven asset for a time.

Even so, the bigger picture is not all bad. Over the past 52 weeks, the contract has climbed about 104%, and it is also up slightly so far this year. That helps explain why Bank of America still has one of the boldest calls on the market. Michael Widmer, the bank’s head of metals research, has laid out a bull-case target of $309 for silver in 2026, which would mean a roughly fourfold jump from current levels.

What would need to happen for silver to make a move that big, and does the market still have the fundamentals to support it? Let’s take a closer look.

What Would Drive Such a Surge? 

The silver market is moving toward its sixth-straight year of supply shortages, with demand staying well above new mine supply and recycling output for several years now. Since 2021, about 762 million troy ounces have already been pulled from above-ground stockpiles to help fill that gap. 

A big reason for this is industrial demand, which keeps setting new records. Silver is used in solar panels, electronics, and other electrification-related products. The steady buildout in solar capacity is pushing that demand even higher each year.

At the same time, supply has not kept up. Mine output is facing delays, rising costs, and lower ore grades at a lot of existing operations, so it is not easy for producers to quickly close the gap. Fresnillo (FNLPF), the world’s largest primary silver producer, even cut its 2026 production guidance to 42 million to 46.5 million ounces, down from an earlier range of 45 million to 51 million ounces. 

Even when companies want to bring on more supply, that does not happen fast. It usually takes seven to 15 years to develop a new silver mine, which keeps the physical market tight. If industrial demand keeps rising and above-ground inventories keep shrinking, this supply gap could get even bigger over the next 18 to 24 months.

On top of that, longer-running geopolitical tensions can push investors back into hard assets. If the Middle East conflict worsens from here, silver could start regaining its safe-haven appeal after the heavy selling seen recently.

How Analysts Are Framing Silver’s Future 

Bank of America’s view starts with the gold-silver ratio, which it says is still stretched at around 80:1. In simple terms, the bank is arguing that silver still looks cheap relative to gold. If that ratio drops back to the 2011 low of 32:1, analysts think silver could rise to about $135 within 12 months. If it falls all the way to the kind of extreme seen in the 1980s, around 14:1, silver could move past $300.

That said, not everyone is going that far. Citi has put forward $150 as a realistic near-term target, showing that bullish calls are not limited to just one bank. On the other side, JPMorgan has warned that silver could slide back toward $50 later in 2026, which shows just how split the market remains.

Others are less focused on a single price target and more focused on the kind of ride investors should expect. Goldman Sachs has pointed to the likelihood of sharper swings in silver prices, suggesting that even if silver moves higher, it may not be a smooth climb. 

UBS had previously looked for silver to trade in the mid-$50 to mid-$60 range, which now looks fairly conservative next to today's prices and the more bullish calls making the rounds. Meanwhile, HSBC has pointed to the widening supply deficit as a reason silver could stay supported over time.

Conclusion

Silver can still move higher from here, but getting all the way to $309 by the end of 2026 would likely require almost everything to break in its favor at once. The more realistic takeaway is that the long-term setup still leans bullish because the market remains structurally tight and analysts broadly agree silver has more upside, even if they differ sharply on how far it can go. From here, the most likely path is continued volatility with a bias higher rather than a straight shot to new highs. So, the bigger question is probably not whether silver can rebound, but how much of that bullish case the market is ultimately willing to price in.