Here's My Latest Silver Price Target for 2018

After such a persistent three-week advance, it seems silver is taking a well-deserved break.

With this week's slight pullback in mind, I've just released my newest silver price target...

That silver price rally was fueled, at least in part, by a retreating U.S. dollar, whose index (the DXY) peaked at 94.10 on Dec. 11 and recently hit a low of 91.85.

It was a 2.4% drop in as little as three weeks for the dollar, giving silver a "shot in the arm" that led to an advance of 9.6% in just 18 trading days.Silver price target

Silver bulls are starting to get the redemption they've been waiting for. And their patience is likely to be even better rewarded as we work our way further into 2018.

BREAKING: Executive Editor Bill Patalon just saw something on his precious metals charts he's only seen twice in 20 years. He calls it the "Halley's Comet of investing" - and it could lead to windfall profits. Read more...

Although silver's advance could pause temporarily as the U.S. dollar enjoys a dead cat bounce, I expect the precious metal to challenge its 2017 high before long, then move onto challenging 2016's high.

And likely weakness in the greenback is sure to help power those gains...

Here's How the Price of Silver Is Trending Now

Thanks to the arrival of a new year, silver saw a shortened trading week. The gray metal ended Tuesday, Jan. 2, at $17.15, but opened on Wednesday under pressure as the DXY was beginning its dead cat bounce. The DXY rose to 92.05 by 8:00 a.m., pushing silver down to $17.08. And yet, even as the DXY rose gradually to 92.20 late in the day, silver still managed to stay nearly flat and closed at $17.10.

On Thursday, silver opened slightly higher, at $17.11, after overnight pressure subsided. The DXY had retreated to 91.90 at 8:00 a.m. and essentially moved sideways through the day. Silver buyers pushed the metal higher to a 3:00 p.m. peak at $17.22, though it dialed back slightly to close at $17.20.

Here's the DXY action of the past week.

silver prices

Friday saw silver give back some of those gains as the DXY enjoyed renewed buying pressure. That lifted the index to 92 for most of the day, pressuring silver prices. It opened at $17.13 and bounced around before closing at $17.15.

But on Monday, Jan. 8, the dollar-buying intensified, and the DXY got pushed up to 92.35 on hawkish comments from Federal Reserve members that we could see three rate hikes this year. On that basis, silver fell back and opened at $17.10.  It bottomed at midday around $16.97, then reversed and regained $17.10 as it neared the 5:00 p.m. close.

Now that we've examined last week's silver price movements, here's why I remain so bullish for the rest of 2018. Plus, here's my latest silver price target...

This Is My Newest Silver Price Target for 2018

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So what might be next for silver? In the very near term, I think there will be two pressure points on the metal's price; the dollar and some profit-taking.

I think the dollar's bounce could take the index back to 93, which was previously support as the DXY formed a head-and-shoulders pattern.

silver price

Right now, the DXY has already bounced back over 92, and the RSI and MACD momentum indicators seem to be flattening out.

Don't be surprised if silver exhibits either a consolidation period or even a limited pullback on a stronger dollar. But keep in mind that dollar strength is likely to be short-lived, with the greenback returning to its longer-term downward trend.

Consider that large and small speculators have been aggressively adding to their bullish silver futures positions in recent weeks, as (smart money) commercials have retreated. As a contrarian indicator, higher bullish positions by speculators also suggests we could be in for some near-term weakness.

silver price per ounce

If silver does indeed pull back at this juncture, I'd still expect to see it hold up pretty well. That said, the first target is $16.50, and possibly even $16, if downside volatility becomes exacerbated.

Once the rally resumes, I'm still looking for a run to $18.25 by late February and a possible challenge of the $20.50 level by mid-year. Those are gains of 6.6% and 19.7% from today's silver price.

Up Next: Rare Gold Anomaly

Money Morning Executive Editor Bill Patalon just caught something on his gold charts that he's only seen twice in the past 20 years. A $13 billion gold anomaly he calls the "Halley's Comet of investing."

It's very rare, and fleeting, and Bill sees things lining up perfectly to bring some very sizeable precious metal profits to well-positioned investors.

Click here to check out his research...

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