As Silver Surges Toward The Magical $100 Mark, Global Debt Levels Are Exploding And The U.S. Dollar Is Dying
This year silver has been on the greatest bull run that we have ever seen. It is up an astounding 166 percent since January 1st, and so those that purchased it long ago and stuck with it are really loving life right now. When the price of silver reached the 50 dollar mark earlier this year, I thought that it would be some time before it hit the 60 dollar mark. But of course the truth is that it didn’t take long at all. Once the price of silver reached 60 dollars, I thought that it might hit 70 dollars some time in early 2026. If you check the latest numbers, you will see that we have easily blown past that threshold, and the price of silver has already surpassed 80 dollars in Shanghai. I know that I have been using the word “crazy” a lot lately, but without a doubt what we are witnessing at this moment is truly “crazy”.
So why is this happening?
In a previous article, I discussed factors such as the AI boom, strong industrial demand, new technologies and a spike in demand for physical silver in Asia.
But let’s step back for a moment and take a look at the bigger picture.
To me, it is not a coincidence that the price of silver is exploding at the exact same time that we are reaching the terminal phase of the largest global debt super cycle in history…
Global debt has climbed to an all-time high of $337.7 trillion by the end of the second quarter of 2025, according to the latest Global Debt Monitor from the Institute of International Finance (IIF). The first half of 2025 alone saw an increase of over $21 trillion, largely driven by accommodative financial conditions, a softer US dollar, and continued government borrowing.
This jump is comparable to the COVID-era debt explosion in 2020, when governments and corporations worldwide dramatically ramped up spending to tackle the pandemic.
This is the first time in world history that all of the major powers are facing a nightmarish debt crisis simultaneously.
As this 337.7 trillion dollar debt bubble bursts, it is going to be so important to have your money somewhere safe.
So it makes all the sense in the world that there is so much demand for silver right now.
Long-term bond yields have been surging all over the globe, and this is even happening in nations that were once considered to be “safe havens” such as Japan and Germany…
Long-term yields are rising sharply across many countries, including in Germany and Japan, which in the past used to be safe havens. That puts huge pressure on fiscally distressed countries like Italy and France and incentivizes short-termism. If the EU wants to become a geopolitical player, it can’t allow high-debt countries to dictate foreign policy. This has to stop.
Meanwhile, fiat currencies are rapidly losing value, and that has particularly been true for the U.S. dollar…
The U.S. dollar was on the back foot on Wednesday and set for its biggest yearly fall since 2017, possibly with more to come, as investors wagered the Federal Reserve would have room to cut rates further next year even as most of its peers look finished with easing.
Tuesday’s solid U.S. GDP reading failed to move the dial on the rate outlook, leaving investors pricing in roughly two more Fed cuts in 2026.
This has been a horrible year for the U.S. dollar.
That is one of the reasons why the purchasing power of your money doesn’t stretch as far as it once did.
For the year, the U.S. dollar index is down about 10 percent…
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar index fell to a 2-1/2-month low of 97.767. It was on track to lose 9.8% for the year, which would mark its steepest annual drop since 2017. Any further weakness in the last week of the year would take its fall to its greatest since 2003.
Please keep in mind that the other currencies that the U.S. dollar is being measured against are rapidly losing value as well.
It is just that the U.S. dollar is losing value even faster.
One of the reasons why the U.S. dollar is losing value so rapidly is because global central banks are becoming less dependent on it…
The share of USD-denominated assets held by other central banks dropped to 56.9% of total foreign exchange reserves in Q3, the lowest since 1994, from 57.1% in Q2 and 58.5% in Q1, according to the IMF’s new data on Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves.
USD-denominated foreign exchange reserves include US Treasury securities, US mortgage-backed securities (MBS), US agency securities, US corporate bonds, and other USD-denominated assets held by central banks other than the Fed.
This is not good news at all.
Because as Wolf Richter has aptly pointed out, having the reserve currency of the world has been a massive advantage for us…
Foreign central banks buying USD-denominated assets, such as Treasury securities, helps push up prices and push down yields of those assets. Being the dominant reserve currency had the effect of helping the US borrow more cheaply to fund its huge twin deficits – the trade deficit and the budget deficit – and thereby has enabled the US to run those huge twin deficits for decades. At some point, this continued decline as a reserve currency, as it reduces demand for USD debt, would make the trade deficit and the budget deficit more difficult to sustain.
People have been talking about the death of the U.S. dollar for a long time.
The U.S. dollar is certainly not dead yet, but the fact that it is in the process of dying should deeply alarm us.
The entire global financial system is shifting, and right now there is a global race to accumulate precious metals. This is particularly true for silver…
Silver has been designated critical by the United States. Russia has increased accumulation. India has discouraged selling while encouraging the use of silver as collateral. The Middle East is preparing silver-linked tokenized instruments. Demand is rising across jurisdictions.
At the same time, there have been some things going on behind the scenes that have caused the price of silver to go parabolic over the last couple of months…
Here’s the next dot: over the last two months, there has been a massive inflow of silver from Latin America into the United States. Not into China. Into the U.S.
Who is one clearinghouse? JPMorgan.
On Black Friday, JPMorgan effectively pulled silver off the market. That removal of available supply triggered a forced response elsewhere. Someone in China who was structurally short silver had to cover, and cover aggressively. That wasn’t a trade. That was a scramble.
I don’t see how the price of silver can keep going up at this rate.
At some point it will stabilize.
But of course silver is not the only precious metal that is in great demand right now.
On Friday, the price of platinum and the price of palladium both went absolutely haywire…
Elsewhere, spot platinum rose 8.7% to $2,411.46 per ounce, having earlier hit a record high of $2,448.25, while palladium climbed nearly 10% to $1,850.76.
For those that have invested in precious metals, what we are witnessing at this moment is such good news.
Conversely, unprecedented volatility in the prices of precious metals is a major red flag for the global financial system.
Bond yields are going nuts, cryptocurrencies have already crashed, and global stock markets are flashing huge warning signs.
Many are anticipating a great deal of financial chaos in 2026, and at this stage it is hard to argue that they are wrong.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
The Shanghai silver exchange is presently sitting at $82 ($81.99). $10+ above the COMEX spot price. This is called "arbitrage." Why would silver miners sell to the comex for $72, when they can sell it at the Shanghai exchange for $82 ??? Obviously, they won't!
The arbitrage price gap between Shanghai & comex is presently (and will continue) to cause a physical silver flight from the west to China as long the western market riggers continue suppressing the price of silver. The only way to close stop this physical silver flight into China is to allow true price discovery and let the comex spot price climb to parity with Shanghai.
If they allow this the problem then becomes a banking crisis where banks (who've been shorting the silver market for decades) are suddenly facing massive margin-calls.
They've painted themselves into a corner with their greed & thievery. The entire ponzi is collapsing in real time. It's entertaining and amusing
Anyone who sells their physical silver for dollars at this point is a fool. They would be exchanging a rapidly appreciating asset for a rapidly depreciating asset.