Silver trading hours: when to trade silver

What are the trading times of the silver market?

You can trade the silver market with us during these hours (UK time):

• 11pm Sunday to 10pm Friday for spot prices and futures
• 11.01pm Sunday to 6.24pm Friday for daily options (offline hours: 6.24pm to 9pm Monday to Thursday)
• 11.02pm Sunday to 9.15pm Friday for monthly options (offline hours: 10pm to 11.02pm Monday to Friday)

Silver market hours in the UK

The trading times of the silver market depend on whether you’re trading on spot, futures or options prices.

When is the best time to trade silver?

The best time to trade silver is generally during periods of high liquidity (how easily an asset can be converted into cash). This is often linked to market volatility – the extent to which an asset’s price fluctuates within a certain period. Market volatility is a good indication of an asset’s liquidity – a high demand for an asset means that its liquidity is high too and vice versa.

When there’s more activity (high trading volumes) in a market, volatility increases. Increased trading activity can be caused by factors such as overlapping trading hours of different locations and the publication of company news. High trading volumes often lead to rapid changes in prices. Hikes in market volatility create more opportunities to profit, but the risk of losses is also higher.

Managing your risk: stop and limit orders in silver trading

Stop and limit orders enable you to automatically enter or exit a trade when the market price reaches or surpasses a certain amount. That is why some traders add stops and limits to their positions in times of high market volatility to manage their risk. These can be broken down into stop entry orders, stop loss orders, limit entry orders, and limit close orders. Here are the differences between them:

• You’d set a stop entry order to buy above the current market price if you wanted to open a long position, or below the current market price to sell if you wanted to open a short position
• You’d set a stop loss order below the current market price on your already open long positions, or above the current market price on any of your short positions
• You’d use a limit entry order if you want to buy at a price that is lower than the current market price
• You’d use a limit close order if you want to sell at a price that’s higher than the current market price

Your order could be executed at a price that is different from the price that you requested – this is known as slippage. The main reasons why slippage occurs are:

• High volatility in the market: sudden price movements that surpass your order amount
• A gap in the market: sharp market movements with little or no trading in between

You can remove any risk of slippage using a guaranteed stop. It is a common risk management tool which ensures that your position is closed at your pre-selected price. To protect your position with a guaranteed stop, you’d pay a premium and your broker would accept the risk on your behalf.

What is the impact of supply and demand on silver prices?

Silver prices can be affected by fluctuations in the supply and demand levels of the precious metal. Silver has a wide range of applications across industries including healthcare, electronics, energy, jewellery and automotive. As a result, different conditions in specific industries can cause demand for silver to rise or fall – which then affect its price.

Silver’s supply and demand can also be influenced by global political and economic conditions. These include new or amended regulations and policies, as well as miner strikes. If such factors affect the supply of silver adversely, while the demand remains unchanged, there might be a rise in the price of the commodity.

Widespread changes, such as recessions and lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, can cause the need or buying power of consumers to decrease significantly. As a result of falling demand and a steady supply, there would be a decline in the price of silver.

What is the correlation between gold and silver prices?

Gold and silver prices usually move in the same direction. So, a rise in the price of gold is typically followed by a rise in the price of silver. Consequently, some traders take similar positions on both of these metals to benefit from price movements in the underlying market.

However, as much as the positive correlation between gold and silver prices is usually proven to be true, it isn’t always the case. So, it is important to also consider factors other than the price of gold thoroughly in your analysis before taking a position in the silver market.

What are the ways to trade silver?

Below are the ways in which you can trade or invest in silver with us:

• Trading on silver’s spot price
  Speculate on silver’s current market value during our silver market trading hours for spot prices
• Trading on silver futures
  Take a position on fluctuating silver futures prices with spread bets or CFDs
• Trading on silver options
  Speculate on rising or falling silver options prices using spread bets and CFDs
• Investing in silver stocks
  Own silver company shares and make a profit if the market price rises when investing with us

With us, you can trade on futures, options or spot prices rising or falling with leveraged derivatives, such as spread bets or CFDs. Leverage means that you’re opening your position on margin, which grants you full market exposure with just a small percentage of the full value of the trade required to open a position. But, bear in mind that leverage can increase both your profits and your losses.

Trading shares with spread bets or CFDs won’t give you ownership, but you can ‘buy’ (go long) to speculate on prices rising, or ‘sell’ (go short) to speculate on prices falling.

You can also trade or invest in companies that have a role in the silver industry – like silver miners or refineries. With us, you can invest in physical shares of silver companies – or ETFs that track the price of silver – when you open a share dealing account.

Leverage isn’t available for share dealing, which means you’ll have to make an upfront payment of the full investment value. Investing enables you to take ownership, making you a company shareholder. You’ll be eligible to receive dividends and voting rights if the company grants them.

Find out more about trading silver with us