Silver price today: sharp pullback leaves spot in the mid-$80s after a violent late-week selloff

Silver’s “today” price picture is being defined by the last full U.S. trading session, since Saturday, January 31, 2026 (ET) falls on a weekend when many key benchmarks are not actively updating. The latest widely cited readings show spot silver near the mid-$80s per ounce, while front-month silver futures traded around the high-$70s to mid-$80s following a dramatic one-day drop late Friday.

A weekend “today” snapshot: where silver is sitting now

Based on the most recent end-of-day and late-session updates from Friday, January 30, silver is roughly here:

Quick snapshot (latest available, ET context):

• Spot silver (XAG/USD): ~$85/oz area, after swinging through an exceptionally wide intraday range 

• Silver futures (active contract): roughly $79–$85/oz depending on the timestamp and contract view 

• Magnitude of the move: a drop on the order of 20%+ versus the prior close was in play during Friday’s slide 

Because pricing was extremely volatile, different snapshots can look inconsistent (spot vs futures; different update times; different contract conventions). What’s consistent is the story: silver fell hard and fast from recent highs into the mid-$80s spot area by the end of Friday’s trading. 

What actually moved silver so violently on Friday

The immediate setup looked like a classic “crowded trade meets a catalyst” unwind.

Silver had been on a steep run into late January, with momentum-driven positioning and a strong narrative mix: safe-haven demand, dollar weakness, and a sense that policy could tilt more dovish. Then sentiment flipped quickly on Friday, and the market behaved the way highly leveraged or heavily one-sided trades often do: selling accelerates, stops trigger, margin pressure rises, and the drop feeds on itself. 

A key headline driver late in the week centered on expectations around the next direction of U.S. monetary policy leadership, which coincided with a sharp rebound in the U.S. dollar and a rapid cooling of precious-metals enthusiasm. Since silver is dollar-priced, a stronger dollar can mechanically raise the hurdle for buyers outside the U.S.—and it can also change the relative appeal of non-yielding assets when rate expectations shift.

Silver also tends to “overshoot” versus gold when markets de-risk, because it’s typically more volatile and more exposed to speculative swings. Friday’s move fit that profile.

Who feels this move, and why the next session matters

This kind of break doesn’t just reset price—it reshuffles the balance of power:

• Short-term traders and leveraged participants face the most immediate consequences. Big intraday ranges can force position reductions regardless of conviction.

• Physical buyers and long-term allocators may see opportunity, but many will wait for volatility to compress before stepping in size.

• Companies with silver exposure (industrial users, refiners, and hedgers) now have to reassess hedge ratios because prices moved far enough to change budget assumptions in a single day.

The next meaningful read will come with the next active trading window (Sunday evening futures open into Monday’s session, ET). After a move this large, markets often test two things: (1) whether bargain demand can absorb supply without new lows, and (2) whether rebounds are sold quickly by participants who want out at “better” levels.

The cleanest signals to watch next, without guessing

With so much noise around “the exact number,” a few indicators tend to clarify whether the selloff is stabilizing or turning into a deeper unwind:

1. Does spot hold above recent panic lows? A higher low can be an early sign that forced selling is fading.

2. How futures trade versus spot: persistent dislocations can hint at stress, hedging urgency, or contract-specific flows.

3. Dollar direction and rate expectations: silver often struggles to regain footing if the dollar stays bid and policy expectations harden. 

For now, the most defensible statement is simple: silver price today is best described as “post-crash stabilization,” with spot around the mid-$80s and futures in the high-$70s to mid-$80s range as of the latest Friday updates (ET). Details may shift quickly once full trading resumes.