XAG/USD: Silver / US dollar

XAG/USD is the price of one troy ounce of silver in US dollars. Like gold, it sits on forex platforms next to the currency pairs and uses the same notation, but it is a commodity, not a currency. Silver is both a precious metal that investors hold alongside gold and an industrial metal used in electronics and solar panels, and that double identity is why it has tended to move with gold but with bigger swings in both directions.

This profile covers what XAG/USD is and who trades it, what moves it, how it behaves through the day, how contract size and pips work, what it costs, a worked example, correlations, notable history and the risks for beginners.

What XAG/USD is and who trades it

XAG is the ISO 4217 code for one troy ounce of silver, built from "Ag", the chemical symbol, with an X marking a code that is not a national currency. A troy ounce is about 31.1 grams. The price is quoted in dollars per ounce, so a rising XAG/USD means silver is getting more expensive in dollars, which can reflect silver strengthening, the dollar weakening, or both.

The wholesale market is centred on London, where bullion banks trade large bars over the counter, and on COMEX in New York, where silver futures trade. The LBMA Silver Price, a daily benchmark, is set in London. Participants include miners and refiners, industrial users such as electronics and solar manufacturers, jewellers, investors in physically backed exchange-traded funds, macro funds and a large number of retail CFD traders. Much of the world's silver is mined as a by-product of copper, lead, zinc and gold mining, so supply does not respond quickly to the silver price itself.

Under ESMA's retail rules, silver is not treated like gold. Gold has its own 20:1 cap, but silver falls into the "commodities other than gold" category, capped at 10:1 for retail clients of EU-regulated providers. That means a minimum margin of 10% of the position's value, double the rate on gold. Our guide to CFDs on stocks, indices and commodities explains how the caps differ by asset class, and ESMA leverage limits covers the full framework.

What typically moves silver

Gold

The single biggest influence on silver has usually been gold. Investors often treat the two metals as a pair, so a move in gold driven by interest rates, the dollar or fear tends to pull silver in the same direction. Silver's market is much smaller in value than gold's, so the same flow of money tends to move it further in percentage terms. Our guide to gold and silver explains the shared drivers, and the XAU/USD profile covers gold in detail.

The dollar and real interest rates

Silver pays no interest and is priced in dollars. When inflation-adjusted yields on safe government bonds rise, the cost of holding a non-yielding metal goes up; when they fall, it goes down. A broadly weaker dollar has also often coincided with a higher silver price. Both relationships are tendencies that have broken down for long stretches. The Federal Reserve sits at the centre of both; see central banks and interest rates.

Industrial demand

This is where silver differs most from gold. Industrial applications account for a large share of annual silver demand, with electronics, electrical components and photovoltaic (solar) panels among the main uses. That means signs of stronger or weaker global manufacturing, particularly in China, can affect silver in a way that barely touches gold. In a sharp economic slowdown, silver can be pulled down by its industrial side even while gold is supported by safe-haven buying.

Investment flows and market squeezes

Silver-backed exchange-traded funds, futures positioning and retail enthusiasm can all move the price. Because the market is relatively small, a rush of buying or a shortage of metal available to borrow in London can produce abrupt spikes, and those spikes have often reversed abruptly too.

Scheduled US events

US non-farm payrolls, CPI and FOMC decisions are usually the most volatile scheduled events, because they move the dollar and real yields at the same time. See how economic data moves forex.

Its character: sessions and volatility

Silver CFDs typically trade almost 24 hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday evening, with a short daily break around the US close; exact hours vary by provider. Times below are UK time, and the New York times shift by an hour for a few weeks in spring and autumn when the UK and US change their clocks on different dates.

• Asian session (roughly 23:00 to 07:00 UK time): trading continues, but liquidity is thinner and spreads are often wider.
• London (about 08:00 to 17:00 UK time): liquidity builds as the London bullion market opens.
• New York overlap (about 13:00 to 17:00 UK time): usually the busiest period, as COMEX futures and US data drive trading.
• Late New York and the daily break (around 21:00 to 23:00 UK time): thin liquidity and wider spreads.

Our guide to the best time to trade gold explains the same session pattern in more depth; it applies to silver almost one for one.

Silver has generally been more volatile than gold in percentage terms, and far more volatile than the major currency pairs. Fast spikes around US data, sharp reversals and gaps at the weekly open are all part of its character. See gap risk and weekend risk.

Contract size and pips: check your broker

Silver's conventions vary even more than gold's.

• Contract size: on many MetaTrader platforms one standard lot is 5,000 troy ounces, matching the standard COMEX silver futures contract. Some providers use 1,000 ounces, and others let you trade in single ounces. Always read the contract size in the symbol specification.
• Pip size: silver is usually quoted to three decimal places. Many platforms and calculators, including ours, treat 0.001 dollars as a pip. Others treat one cent (0.01) as a pip and the 0.001 step as a pipette or point. A "300-pip stop" therefore means 0.30 dollars to one trader and 3.00 dollars to another.

The safe habit is to think in dollars per ounce and multiply by the number of ounces you hold. On a 5,000-ounce lot:

• a 0.001 move is worth 5 USD;
• a 0.01 move (one cent) is worth 50 USD;
• a 0.10 move is worth 500 USD;
• a 1.00 move (one dollar per ounce) is worth 5,000 USD.

Our dedicated guide to silver lot size and pip value works through every convention with examples.

Pip value and margin: a worked example

These numbers are illustrative. Your account is in dollars, your broker uses 5,000-ounce lots and treats 0.001 as a pip.

You buy 0.02 lots (100 ounces) of XAG/USD at 40.000 with a stop at 39.400, a stop distance of 0.600 dollars per ounce, or 600 pips on this convention. Each 0.001 move is worth 0.10 USD on 100 ounces, so the stop would cost 100 times 0.600 = 60 USD, before spread and swap.

Margin at 10:1 is the notional value divided by 10: 100 ounces times 40 dollars is 4,000 USD, so the margin is 400 USD. If your account is in euros, convert at the current rate; at an illustrative EUR/USD of 1.1000 the stop is about 54.55 EUR and the margin about 363.64 EUR.

Now the classic mistake. A trader used to a broker with 1,000-ounce lots moves to a platform with 5,000-ounce lots and enters 0.1 lots out of habit, expecting 100 ounces. They now hold 500 ounces. The same 0.600 dollar stop costs 300 USD, five times the plan. Check the contract size, then use the instruments position size calculator, which defaults to 5,000-ounce lots and 0.001 pips, and the margin calculator. Margin is collateral, not the maximum loss; a gap can carry the price through your stop.

Costs of trading silver

Silver spreads are usually wider in percentage terms than gold's and much wider than on the major currency pairs. They widen further in the Asian session, around the daily break, at the weekly open and around big US data. Compare spreads in dollars per ounce at the time you trade; see spreads and commissions and why spreads widen.

Overnight financing is generally based on dollar interest rates plus the provider's charge, as silver has no interest rate of its own. Holding long has typically meant paying a financing charge each night, with a triple swap on one day of the week to cover the weekend. Check the swap rates in your platform; see swap and overnight financing.

Correlations with other markets

• Gold (XAU/USD): usually moves in the same direction, with silver's swings typically larger. The gold/silver ratio, the gold price divided by the silver price, tracks how many ounces of silver buy one ounce of gold, and it has moved across a wide range over the decades.
• EUR/USD and the dollar index: silver has often moved opposite the dollar, so it has frequently shown a positive relationship with EUR/USD and an inverse one with the DXY.
• Copper and equity markets: silver's industrial side means it has at times moved with copper and with risk appetite more than gold does.
• AUD/USD and USD/MXN: Australia and Mexico are significant metal producers, and their currencies have sometimes moved with metal prices; Mexico has long been the world's largest silver producer.

These relationships come and go. Check them over a recent window rather than relying on them; see currency correlation.

Notable history

The Hunt brothers and Silver Thursday (1980)

In the late 1970s the Texan Hunt brothers built up enormous positions in physical silver and silver futures, and the price rose to around 50 dollars an ounce in January 1980. Exchanges then tightened margin requirements and trading rules, the price collapsed, and on 27 March 1980, remembered as Silver Thursday, the brothers failed to meet a margin call, setting off panic in the futures market. It remains the classic example of how leverage and crowded positioning can turn a commodity rally into a crash.

The 2011 peak

After the global financial crisis, silver rallied strongly and approached its 1980 high again in April 2011, then fell steeply within days as exchanges raised margin requirements. Silver spent much of the following decade well below that peak.

Records in October 2025

In October 2025, amid a strong gold rally and a squeeze in the London physical market, silver rose above 50 dollars an ounce and through its 1980 and 2011 peaks for the first time, before falling back sharply later in the month. It is a reminder that silver can move by double-digit percentages within weeks, and that past records say nothing about what comes next.

Trading silver as a beginner

• Read the contract specification first. Contract size, pip definition, trading hours, swap rates and margin all vary by provider.
• Think in dollars per ounce. Convert every stop into money before you place it. On a 5,000-ounce lot a one-cent move is 50 USD.
• Use smaller sizes than on gold or currencies. Silver's percentage moves are larger, and the 10:1 margin cap means each position ties up more capital. See position sizing.
• Respect the reversals. Silver's spikes have often unwound as fast as they built. Chasing a fast move with a large position is how many silver losses start.
• Treat US data days with care. Payrolls, CPI and FOMC decisions can move silver sharply in seconds, with spreads widening and slippage common.
• Be realistic. Most retail CFD accounts lose money, and leverage magnifies losses as well as gains. Practise on a demo account first.

Frequently asked questions

What does XAG mean?

XAG is the ISO 4217 code for one troy ounce of silver. "Ag" is the chemical symbol for silver, and the X marks it as a code that is not a national currency. XAG/USD is the price of one ounce in US dollars.

How much is a pip on silver?

It depends on the provider. With a 5,000-ounce lot and 0.001 as the pip, one pip is worth 5 USD per lot; if the provider treats 0.01 as the pip, one pip is 50 USD. Think in dollars per ounce and check the contract size to avoid a tenfold mistake.

Why is the leverage cap on silver 10:1 when gold is 20:1?

ESMA's retail rules give gold its own 20:1 category. Silver falls under "commodities other than gold", which is capped at 10:1, so the minimum margin is 10% of the position's value.

Why does silver move more than gold?

Silver's market is much smaller in value, so the same flows move it further, and its industrial uses add exposure to the economic cycle on top of the precious-metal drivers it shares with gold.

Does silver always follow gold?

Usually, but not always. The two often move in the same direction, but silver's industrial side can make it lag gold in a slowdown and outpace it in a strong economy, which is why the gold/silver ratio moves around.