Here's What Copper is Saying About Silver
Copper is an important indicator that silver investors should watch alongside gold.
As a silver investor and analyst, I closely track copper because of its strong correlation with—and influence on—silver. Silver is unique in that it’s both a precious metal and an industrial one, with industrial demand making up about 55% of total usage. This gives silver price behavior that often mirrors copper, a purely industrial metal. Additionally, there are trading algorithms that arbitrage the silver-copper relationship, reinforcing their tight price connection. In this article, I’ll break down where copper stands now and what it is signaling for silver.
Let’s start with copper’s daily price chart. For much of the past year, I’ve highlighted the key $4-per-pound support level as a major line in the sand. Each time copper has tested that level, it’s presented a high-probability bounce opportunity—which has played out multiple times, including at the very start of this year. In that instance, copper rebounded sharply and surged 34% to a high of $5.37 by late March, driven by a rush to bring copper onshore ahead of potential tariffs on imported supplies.
In late March, copper attempted to break above the $5 to $5.20 resistance zone—a key ceiling that has held since 2021—but the breakout ultimately failed. Copper soon fell back below that level and was hit hard along with most other markets starting on April 2nd, known as “Liberation Day,” when President Trump unveiled his new tariff plan.
This serves as a valuable reminder of why flexibility and responsiveness to market signals are essential. When a breakout or breakdown fails and the price reverses, the reason doesn’t matter—that shift alone is a signal worth respecting. False breakouts and breakdowns are common, especially in volatile environments like this one, where new policies are being introduced rapidly and often unpredictably. Markets tend to react unpredictably under Trump’s leadership style, which is rooted in surprise and negotiation—traits consistent with his “art of the deal” philosophy—making trading much more challenging when he is at the helm.
Interestingly, after the “Liberation Day” shock and broad market selloff, copper re-tested the critical $4 support level before bouncing sharply and reclaiming much of its losses—a confusing round-trip move that left many investors and traders scratching their heads (myself included).
Over the past couple of weeks, copper has been consolidating around the $4.70 level, with no clear directional signal for now. That said, I believe there’s a strong chance copper will soon make another run at the $5 to $5.20 resistance zone—this time with a higher likelihood of breaking through and launching a more sustained bull market, as I’ll explore further in this article.
A look at the longer-term weekly chart highlights the significance of the $4 support level below and the $5 to $5.20 resistance zone above, with copper currently trading in the middle of that range. For now, it remains in a holding pattern, offering no clear directional signal either way.
The even longer-term monthly chart reveals that copper’s consolidation since 2021 is forming an ascending triangle pattern—a classic bullish setup. This indicates that a major bull market will likely begin once copper finally breaks above the key $5 to $5.20 resistance zone.
If confirmed, I believe this move will mirror the strength of the 2020 rally that preceded it. Using the measured move principle in technical analysis, the breakout projects a potential $3 per pound advance—taking copper to $8, which represents a 73% gain from current levels.