Silver maintained its bid tone through the early European session and was last seen hovering near the top end of its daily trading range, around the $25.30-35 region. The XAG/USD, however, remains well within a three-day-old trading range, which constitutes the formation of a rectangle on hourly charts. Given last week's sustained break below the $25.70-65 confluence support, this might still be categorized as a bearish continuation pattern and supports prospects for further losses. The negative outlook is reinforced by the fact that technical indicators on the daily chart, though have recovered from lower levels, are still holding in the bearish territory. Hence, any subsequent move up might still be seen as a selling opportunity and runs the risk of fizzling out near the $25.65-70 support breakpoint.

The latter comprised the very important 200-day SMA and the $23.78-$28.75 move up, which should now act as a pivotal point for short-term traders. This is followed by the $26.00 mark, above which the recovery could get extended towards the next relevant barrier near the $26.40-50 heavy supply zone. On the flip side, the key $25.00 psychological mark is likely to protect the immediate downside ahead of monthly swing lows, around the $24.75 region touched last week. A convincing break below will reaffirm the bearish bias and drag the XAG/USD further towards the $24.00 mark en-route YTD lows, around the $23.80-75 region.