Modern Silver Bull Markets: 1970s to Today

Silver has been long-maligned as the “poor man’s gold,” but history shows that when it runs, it often outperforms gold by multiples. In fact, silver has delivered some of the most dramatic bull markets in modern financial history.

As we watch silver gather momentum in the current cycle, it’s worth looking back at previous silver bull runs, what triggered them, and how today’s macro environment sets the stage for what could be silver’s most explosive move yet.

The 1970s Bull Market: Inflation, Oil, and the Hunt Brothers

In 1971, President Nixon officially took the U.S. off the gold standard, untethering the dollar from precious metals. What followed was a decade of stagflation not unlike our current scenario, where high inflation combines with low growth. Silver began the decade around $1.50/oz and climbed slowly with inflation, maintaining its value against a declining dollar. But later that decade, as inflation exploded and fiat money faced a crisis of confidence, oil shocks in an increasingly unstable Middle East caused silver to rip even higher.