A strong bull run in the metals market has resulted in gold, silver and copper tallying strong gains in 2025.
But there is at least one thing that has made this year’s bull run unique for metals traders: All three of the metals have tallied fresh record highs during a single calendar year for the first time since 1980, Dow Jones Market Data showed.
In the early 1980s, the last time all three metals were performing so well simultaneously, geopolitical concerns and weakness in the U.S. dollar were widely cited as some of the most important factors driving prices higher.
While these issues have remained a factor during this bull run, several strategists and investors told MarketWatch that there are several key differences between now and then that might offer some clues about where the market might be heading next.
For example, growing industrial demand is becoming an increasingly important factor driving silver and copper prices. Meanwhile, strong central-bank buying of gold has helped boost prices for the yellow metal. All of these fundamental drivers remain firmly in place at the start of December, said Nick Cawley, contributing analyst for Solomon Global.
“A combination of persistent inflation concerns, U.S. interest-rate cuts, fears surrounding dollar devaluation and substantial central-bank gold purchases continue to underpin prices,” he told MarketWatch by email. “These conditions show no signs of changing and should propel all three metals higher in the coming months.”
Silver futures on Monday notched a fresh record high settlement of $59.14 an ounce, topping the previous record from Nov. 28, according to a Dow Jones Market Data analysis of FactSet figures. Copper’s record-high finish for the year was at $5.8195 a pound on July 23 and gold’s was at $4,359.40 an ounce on Oct. 20.
Silver and copper have likely taken ‘an increasingly important part in the economy of the future.’ — Axel Merk, Merk Investments
Silver and copper have likely taken “an increasingly important part in the economy of the future,” Merk said.
There is also the fact that domestic silver and copper production have remained relatively modest, “which can create its own set of dynamics in the current political environment,” Merk said. “The Trump administration has classified these commodities as strategic, boosting permitting processes on federal land, but there’s a lot to catch up on.”
1980 vs. 2025
Against this backdrop, gold, silver and copper have all reached record-high levels this year. It is pretty unusual for futures contracts tied to all three metals to see record-high settlements during a single calendar year.
High inflation, geopolitical instability and a weak dollar all helped support metals prices in 1980. Similar issues have helped push prices higher these days as well.
But one important difference: We have more “industrial activism” in the U.S. and elsewhere — a push for resource-intensive growth, said Merk.
“At the same time, you have a global economy that’s becoming ‘less efficient,’” he said. “That’s an abstract way of referring to de-globalization,” he said, referring to a more fragmented world. “The cost of doing business is going up. This combination can push commodity prices higher.”
Massive central-bank buying, meanwhile, contributed to gold’s rise to record highs this year, said Solomon Global’s Cawley. That wasn’t the case 45 years ago.
And of course the silver market was being manipulated by the Hunt brothers back in 1980, said Cawley, referring to the huge purchases of silver by Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt that led to a boom in prices for the metal followed by a painful bust.
Their efforts to corner the silver market led to an imbalance between supply and demand for the metal in 1980. In 2025, supply and demand for gold, silver and copper are key concerns too.
So far, growing demand for both silver and copper has not yet been met by growing supply, said Shree Kargutkar, senior portfolio manager at Sprott Asset Management. And so far, Kargutkar sees few signs of a supply boom on the horizon.
“The metals market in general has underspent on exploration over the past decade while development projects have been slow-walked by the authorities,” Kargutkar said.
“This is all coming to roost in the form of higher-for-longer metal prices,” he said.
