Silver vs Platinum
Two metals leading double lives: rare enough to be hoarded, useful enough to be consumed by industry. That is what sets them apart from gold, and what makes their curves rougher — they answer to savers’ moods and to their industrial customers’ cycles at the same time.
Over the period both series share, Silver comes out ahead at +9.6% a year.
| Asset | Total return | Annualised | Volatility | Largest drawdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | ×10.9 | +9.6% a year | 32.4% | −70.0% (January 2016) |
| Platinum | +161.1% | +3.7% a year | 26.6% | −67.9% (April 2020) |
Figures calculated on 26/10/2026 from monthly closing prices. Past performance is no guide to future performance.
Half precious
Silver splits its demand roughly evenly between industry and investment. Electronics consume it, photovoltaics consume a great deal of it — it is the best electrical conductor known — and jewellery and investment coins absorb the rest. Its price listens to two audiences at once.
Platinum is more industrial still. Its main outlet was for a long time the catalytic converter of diesel engines; chemicals, glass, jewellery and, more recently, hydrogen electrolysers add to that. It traded above gold for decades, which has no longer been the case since the early 2010s.
Concentrated supply against diffuse supply
Platinum comes overwhelmingly from one country, South Africa, and from deep, old mines. That concentration is the key to its curve: a strike, a failure of the South African power grid or an industrial dispute moves the world price. No other metal on this page depends so heavily on a single geography.
Silver is mined everywhere — and mostly as a by-product of copper, lead or zinc mines. Its production therefore barely responds to its own price: a silver spike persuades nobody to open a silver mine, since most of them are not silver mines. That rigidity of supply amplifies its moves.
The retreat of diesel in Europe from the mid-2010s took away part of platinum’s first outlet, just as the rise of photovoltaics added one to silver. Much of what separates the two curves carries that shift.
Frequently asked questions
Why is platinum no longer dearer than gold?
Because its demand is industrial while gold alone captures the demand for shelter. The retreat of diesel weighed on its main outlet at the very moment central bank buying was supporting gold.
Is silver a precious or an industrial metal?
Both, in comparable parts, and that is exactly what makes it unstable. It rises with gold in crises and falls with copper in recessions, sometimes months apart.
Why does silver move so much more than gold?
Its market is far smaller in value, and its supply responds poorly to price since it depends on mines worked for other metals. For the same flow of buying, the effect on the price is larger.