Silver: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Silver is both a precious and an industrial metal. Investment flows and gold prices drive it, while solar panels, electronics and brazing make up a growing industrial share. Most supply is a by-product of lead, zinc, copper and gold mines.
Market price World Bank Pink Sheet: Silver $/troy oz · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026What its price moves with
Selected linkSilver and Gold
Monthly changes 0.77 strong correlation 12-month changes 0.83 strong correlation Last 5 years 0.73 monthly changes Lead or lag none No clear lead or lag Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Silver ≈ 0.0536 × (Gold)0.82 R² 0.78 On this fit, a 10% higher gold price goes with a 8.1% higher silver price over the long run. Units: $/troy oz and $/troy oz.Chart: Silver and Gold prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, log scale
Both prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, on a log scale so equal percentage moves look the same size.Chart: Silver price against Gold price, monthly, log scales, with fitted line
Each dot is one month; paler dots are older (2006), darker dots recent (2026); the ringed dot is the latest month. The dashed line is the fitted price function. Both axes are logarithmic.Silver follows gold on interest rates, the dollar and safe-haven demand, but swings more because its market is smaller. Monthly moves correlate at 0.77 and yearly moves at 0.83, making gold the single best guide to silver's direction.
strong co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsSilver and platinum are both precious metals with large industrial and car-related uses, so they react to growth and to investment flows in a similar way. Monthly changes correlate at 0.74, and at 0.85 in the last five years.
strong co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsCopper mines are a major silver source, and both metals are used in electrical contacts and solar panels. Monthly moves correlate at 0.47 and yearly at 0.66, with 0.68 in the last five years.
moderate co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsLead-zinc ores carry much of the world's silver, and lead refineries separate it, so silver credits help lead mine economics. Monthly moves correlate at 0.36 and yearly at 0.38, a supply link more than a demand one.
weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsSolar cells use silver paste for their electrical contacts, and fast solar growth has made photovoltaics one of silver's largest industrial uses. High silver prices push cell makers to cut silver use or switch to copper.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Ethylene oxide, the route to antifreeze and polyester, is made over silver catalysts that are refined and reused. It is a small, steady use, and the chemical index shows no correlation with silver (0.01 monthly).
little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsHow to read these numbers
Correlation of monthly changes (the number in the coloured pill) compares how much each price moved, month by month, since 2006 or the first month both series exist. It runs from −1 to +1: near +1 the two usually rise and fall in the same months, near 0 there is no link, and a negative number means they tend to move in opposite directions. Above 0.7 is strong, 0.4 to 0.7 moderate, 0.2 to 0.4 weak.
12-month changes compare year-on-year moves, which shows whether two prices share the same cycles even when the month-to-month noise differs.
Price function is a straight-line fit of the two prices on logarithmic scales: price ≈ k × (partner price)β. β is how much this price moves, in per cent, for a 1% move in the partner over the whole period, and R² is the share of the variation the fit explains. Two prices that both drift up with inflation can fit well without any real link, so read it together with the monthly correlation.
Lead or lag checks whether the monthly correlation is clearly higher when one price is shifted by 1 to 6 months.
Correlation is not cause. The reasons on each card explain the economic link; the numbers show how strongly it has shown up in prices. Proxy series are US producer price indexes or related prices and can blur the real link.
Data: World Bank Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet), October 2026; US Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price indexes, IMF primary commodity prices and US EIA prices via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, retrieved November 2026. Calculations by this site.