Precious metals

Silver trading: investment demand and industrial use

Silver is held as a precious metal and consumed in electronics and solar equipment. The investment flow and the factory flow do not have to agree. The futures market is smaller than gold’s and can move more for a given order.

Written by WiT Markets EditorialReview Editorially reviewedLast reviewed

silver bullion bar with assay card
Kjmonkey, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.

Market overview

Investment silver is bars, coins and funds. Industrial silver is a component that is often not recovered. A story about monetary demand does not describe a solar manufacturer’s order.

CME Group lists silver futures, including a 100-ounce contract mentioned on the gold specification page retrieved on 19 October 2026. This page does not copy the full silver contract table.

What tends to move it

Industrial fabrication

Electronics and photovoltaic use sit beside investment demand.

Gold’s financial weather

Silver often trades with gold and then diverges when industry slows or investment flows dominate.

Above-ground stocks

Bars can come back to market. Industrial silver often does not.

Liquidity

A smaller book means a wider spread and larger gaps.

Ways to take the exposure

These are different legal positions. A platform may offer one and not the others. Nothing here is available in every country.

Futures

Exchange contracts of more than one size. The ounce count is on the specification, not assumed here.

Funds

Metal-backed or futures-backed. Read which.

Mining shares

Many silver miners also produce other metals. The share is a mix.

CFDs

A firm’s price, not a bar.

Contract specifications

CME Group

Contract unit, tick and margin are on the exchange page. They are not reprinted here.

Read the exchange page

Illustrative contract value

Enter the exchange’s price unit, contract size and tick value yourself. Nothing here is a live quote or a margin rate. The arithmetic is valid only when the price and the contract size use the units in that specification. If the contract quotes in cents or in an index, enter the price in that quote unit.

Illustrative notional
Enter the fields
One tick, selected contracts
—
Selected tick movement
—

What the costs usually are

The same families of cost as gold, usually with a wider spread. A tighter gold market is not evidence that silver will be as cheap to enter.

What a headline commission leaves out of the bill separates the commission from the spread, financing and other charges.

Risks that belong to this market

Volatility

Silver’s smaller market can overshoot a gold move.

Dual use

An industrial slowdown can hit silver while a monetary story is still supportive.

Product mismatch

A silver CFD is not vaulted metal.

Providers in the commodities directory

The rows come from the existing commodities research note. No second provider list was created. No commercial relationship is recorded on these rows, so the button goes to the firm’s own site. This is not a ranking.

No provider is marked as confirmed for this commodity. A named row means the existing research note uses the commodity’s name. An oil row means the note says oil or crude without saying WTI or Brent. A group row means the firm was filed under the category only. Regions are mentions in that note, not a check that you can open an account.

Plus500 logo

Plus500

Named in the research note

Gold, silver, oil, Brent, heating oil, copper, aluminium and other commodity CFDs

Pricing line. Spread/financing-based CFD pricing; regional products differ

Platforms. Proprietary web/mobile

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
Trading 212 logo

Trading 212

Named in the research note

Crude oil, Brent, gold, silver and other commodity/futures CFD instruments plus listed ETFs/ETCs

Pricing line. Commission-free Invest on supported securities; CFD spreads/overnight financing; FX charges can apply

Platforms. Web; mobile

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
AvaTrade logo

AvaTrade

Group listing only

Metals, energy and agricultural commodity CFDs depending entity

Pricing line. Spread-based; product/entity-specific fees

Platforms. WebTrader; AvaTrade app; MT4; MT5; AvaOptions

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
Capital.com logo

Capital.com

Group listing only

65+ commodity CFDs provider-stated across metals, energy and soft/agricultural markets

Pricing line. Spread-based, no commission on cited CFD proposition; other costs apply

Platforms. Capital.com web/mobile; TradingView; MT4/MT5 on current international page

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
C

City Index

Group listing only

Gold, oil and other commodity CFDs/spread bets by region

Pricing line. Spread-based; region/product-specific

Platforms. City Index Web Trader; mobile; MT4; TradingView in selected regions

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
CMC Markets logo

CMC Markets

Group listing only

Commodity CFDs across metals, energy and soft commodities; investing offering differs by region

Pricing line. Spread-based CFD pricing; investing fees region-specific

Platforms. Next Generation; MT4/MT5 in selected regions; mobile/web

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
DEGIRO logo

DEGIRO

Group listing only

Commodity ETFs/ETCs such as oil and precious-metals products; exchange products vary by market

Pricing line. Low-cost transaction model; product/exchange-specific fees

Platforms. Web; mobile

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
eToro logo

eToro

Group listing only

Gold, oil, copper and other commodities primarily via CFDs; commodity ETFs can offer non-CFD exposure

Pricing line. Spread/overnight/product-specific fees

Platforms. Web; mobile

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
FOREX.com logo

FOREX.com

Group listing only

A published range includes crude oil, natural gas, corn and metals.

Pricing line. Spread-based commodity CFDs; financing can apply

Platforms. FOREX.com proprietary; TradingView; MT5/MT4 depending region

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
FP Markets logo

FP Markets

Group listing only

Oil, gas, corn, sugar and precious metals among broader commodity CFDs

Pricing line. Spread/commission account structures

Platforms. MT4; MT5; cTrader; TradingView; IRESS in selected regions

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
IG logo

IG

Group listing only

Commodities including metals, energy and other markets mainly through CFDs/spread betting, plus region-specific investing products

Pricing line. Spread/commission by product/entity

Platforms. IG web/mobile; MT4 in selected regions; ProRealTime integrations

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
Interactive Brokers logo

Interactive Brokers

Group listing only

Energy, metals, agriculture and related commodity products via futures, ETFs/ETPs and metals

Pricing line. Product/exchange commissions + market-data fees; fund/ETF pricing varies

Platforms. Trader Workstation; IBKR Desktop; Client Portal; GlobalTrader; mobile

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
OANDA logo

OANDA

Group listing only

Hard and soft commodity CFDs including oil, copper, natural gas, corn plus precious metals

Pricing line. Spread-based commodity/metal CFDs

Platforms. OANDA web/mobile; MT4; MT5; TradingView

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
Pepperstone logo

Pepperstone

Group listing only

40 spot commodity markets across metals, energies and softs on cited UK page

Pricing line. Spread-based; Razor pricing applies to some products

Platforms. Pepperstone platform; MT4; MT5; cTrader; TradingView

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
Saxo logo

Saxo

Group listing only

Commodity CFDs, futures, options, spot metals and ETCs across energy, metals and agriculture

Pricing line. Tiered commissions/spreads by product and account tier

Platforms. SaxoInvestor; SaxoTrader; web/mobile

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website
Swissquote logo

Swissquote

Group listing only

Metals, commodity-linked funds/ETPs and derivatives depending account/entity

Pricing line. Product/account-specific fees

Platforms. Swissquote web/mobile; MT4/MT5/CFXD in relevant accounts

Fees that are not in the note are not shown as zero. Eligibility where you live is not confirmed.

Visit official website

Compare selected providers

Select two or three providers. The limit is three.

Calculators

Each tool starts from numbers you type. This page does not send a contract size or a live price into them.

Position size

You type the contract multiplier. This page does not insert one.

Open

Futures margin

Tick value and margin come from the specification you enter.

Open

Risk and reward

A planned payoff. It does not grade the trade.

Open

Profit and loss

A result from prices you type.

Open

Stop and target

Distances you choose, not a market order.

Open

Trading journal

A record of trades you enter.

Open

Trading performance

Figures from the journal, not from a feed.

Open

What a commission leaves out

How spread, fees and financing sit beside a headline commission.

Open

Why silver is not small gold

Gold’s demand is dominated by investment and jewellery. Silver’s industrial share is large enough that a factory cycle is part of the price. Treating silver as a cheaper gold trade ignores that split.

Contract size also differs. A full-size silver future and a smaller listed silver future are different quantities. The exchange table is the source for the number of ounces.

Questions

Is silver only a precious metal?

No. Industrial uses, including electronics and solar equipment, are large enough to matter.

Are silver and gold futures the same size?

No. Each contract’s unit is on the exchange specification. This page does not assume they match.

Sources and review

Written by: WiT Markets Editorial. Writes and structures WiT Markets pages. Separates a sourced fact from a cell that is Not confirmed.

Review: Editorially reviewed. This is not a qualified specialist review and it is not a legal sign-off.

Last reviewed: . Next review due . The date is an editorial pass. It is not a live check of every third-party fee.

Other sources

Methodology. Editorial policy. Corrections. Report an error.

Silver trading: futures, industrial demand and brokers | WiT Markets