Silver Price Surges Past US$56 to New All-time High on Comex Disruption
Silver missed the Black Friday sale memo, rising to a new all-time high of US$56.86 per ounce.
The white metal’s price rise came after CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) halted trading on the Comex on Friday (November 28), citing a ‘cooling issue’ at a CyrusOne data center located in a Chicago suburb.
‘On November 27, our CHI1 facility experienced a chiller plant failure affecting multiple cooling units,’ a CyrusOne spokesperson explained to CNBC in an email. “Our engineering teams, along with specialized mechanical contractors, are on-site working to restore full cooling capacity. We have successfully restarted several chillers at limited capacity and have deployed temporary cooling equipment to supplement our permanent systems.”
A CME Group X post shows that by 5:46 a.m. PST, all markets were open and trading.
All CME Group markets are open and trading.
— CME Group (@CMEGroup) November 28, 2025
According to Reuters, the outage is one of the longest in years for CME Group.
Some traders are taking the disruption as a reminder of the market’s strong reliance on systems that don’t always run perfectly. However, others have pointed out that thinner activity in the US due to Thursday’s (November 27) Thanksgiving holiday likely helped minimize the impact of the stoppage.
‘If there was to be a glitch day, today’s probably a good day to have it,’ Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey, told the news outlet.
Silver price chart, November 27 to 28, 2025.
While silver is known for lagging behind gold before outperforming, it’s now ahead of its sister metal in terms of percentage gains — silver is up about 84 percent year-to-date, while gold has risen around 58 percent.
Gold was also on the move on Friday, breaking back above US$4,200 per ounce for the first time since mid-November, but it remains below its all-time high of nearly US$4,400, set in October.
Silver’s breakout this year has been driven by various factors.
As a precious metal, it’s influenced by many of the same factors as gold, but its October price jump, which took it past the US$50 level, was also driven by a lack of liquidity in the London market.
While that issue appears to have resolved, a new situation has recently emerged — Bloomberg reported on Tuesday (November 25) that Chinese silver stockpiles are now at their lowest level in a decade after huge shipments to London.
Tariff concerns and silver’s new status as a critical mineral in the US have also provided support in 2025.
The white metal’s industrial side also shouldn’t be forgotten — according to the Silver Institute, industrial demand for silver reached a record 680.5 million ounces in 2024, driven by usage in grid infrastructure, vehicle electrification and photovoltaics. Total silver demand was down 3 percent year-on-year in 2024, but still exceeded supply for the fourth year in a row, resulting in a deficit of 148.9 million ounces for the year.
Watch five experts share their thoughts on the outlook for silver.
Time will tell what’s next for silver, but some experts see it continuing to outperform gold in 2026.
‘The sure money is made in the gold sector, but the big money is made in the silver sector — that’s proven true over the last couple of precious metals cycles. I believe it will be true in this one as well,’ said Jay Martin of VRIC Media.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
