Silver Price Forecast: Analysts Call Silver the “Metal to Buy” in 2018

Although silver has seen relatively low volatility as of late, given the history of the precious metal, there are some in the markets who believe that the best is yet to come. In fact, there was a recent splash of news when analysts for TD Securities deemed silver a great buy for 2018, which suggests that the current lull in activity for silver should be an interesting opportunity for silver bugs looking to get in before another big leap for the metal.

TD Securities Aims for $19 and Higher Next Year

The current price of silver stands at about $17.10, give or take a few cents as it fluctuates throughout the day. That’s nothing new—nor is it particularly surprising for those who have watched the precious metal throughout 2017. The relatively stable cycles and low volatility for the metal have been uncharacteristic for silver, which tends to see bigger price swings as a percentage of its price than does gold.

Recently, analysts for TD Securities made news when they forecast higher prices for the precious metal in 2018. According to the analysts, silver bugs should expect to see a climb up to $19.25 throughout the year, with silver hitting a smaller goal of $18 earlier in 2018. That suggests continued low volatility for the metal—but doesn’t necessarily reflect the actual journey silver might take to hit these prices.

Silver Underperforming Relative to Gold

Silver bugs recognize that silver’s role as compared to gold tends to be that of the underdog. But silver’s price has been relatively wan compared to the price of gold for some time, which suggests that there is some upward mobility still available for the precious metal. Traditionally, the gold:silver ratio is a long-term trend that has very little impact on immediate price differences between the two metals—but that doesn’t stop silver bugs from using it as a metric to gauge whether or not silver will be a good value. It the prospects are strong for gold in 2018 and silver remains undervalued relative to this historic ratio, it could spell a quality year for 2018.

Watching Silver Through the End of the Year

Although the recent TD Securities analysts reports suggest that now is a good time to buy silver, that doesn’t mean that the metal will definitely remain strong throughout 2017. It’s important to watch these remaining one and a half months to get an idea for how silver is set to enter the new year. As the old saying goes in real estate—an investor makes money at the purchase, not the sale. Timing silver just right can be tricky, because even expert analysis rarely proves to be exactly “on the money.” But the prospects for silver are strong if analysts see plenty of room for upward mobility out of the metal, and it bears watching as we close out 2017. This is particularly true as the Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates in December, which will bear watching as well.