A violent selloff Friday sent silver prices crashing and gold futures to their biggest one-day dollar decline on record, the latest twist of wild trading that has left precious metals swinging like meme stocks.
For months, a gravity-defying rally had pushed gold and silver prices to all-time highs, enticing speculators and sparking fears that investors the world over were losing faith in traditional currencies like the dollar. Starting Thursday night, the air finally came out.
The declines began around the time reports suggested that President Trump would nominate former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the central bank. Warsh historically has been more concerned with higher inflation than slower growth, soothing Wall Street fears that the Fed would succumb to Trump's push to lower interest rates.
Investors worried about the future of the dollar in an era of higher inflation had piled into precious metals in recent months, powering what has become known on Wall Street as the debasement trade.
After Trump confirmed Warsh's pick Friday morning, the dollar posted its strongest day in months. The speed of subsequent declines in precious-metals markets stretching from central banks to underground vaults to Wall Street trading desks caught investors off guard.
Warsh "is coming with hawkish credentials," said Dec Mullarkey, managing director of SLC Management. "That lowers the risk of debasement across the currency. You're returning to an orderly monetary approach."
Silver prices crashed 31%, their sharpest drop since March 1980, when the Hunt brothers' effort to corner the market unraveled. February futures, which ended Thursday at more than $114 a troy ounce, settled at $78.29. The size of that drop--$35.747--was about the price of an ounce as recently as June.
Front-month gold futures plunged 11% to $4,713.90 a troy ounce, their steepest one-day decline since January 1980.
The moves hammered mining stocks, helping to weigh down the S&P 500 by 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also slipped 0.4%, or 179 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9%.
Some analysts believe Friday's pullback was a much-needed reset for gold and silver after a dizzying rally jacked up costs for industrial users such as solar-panel makers and auto-parts manufacturers. The price of both metals still finished January significantly higher.
On Friday, analysts suggested fast-money traders taking profits at month's end or banks shielding themselves from the impact of sudden declines could have also lent momentum to the selloff.
"The short answer is I have no idea. Nobody knows," said Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault. "I've been in the market for 20 years. I've never seen anything quite like this market."
A precious-metals marketplace, BullionVault's roughly 125,000 customers own more than $10 billion of assets in a network of vaults in financial centers such as London and New York. January was the firm's biggest month ever for new customers, Ash said, larger even than moments of crisis such as Lehman Brothers' collapse or the pandemic.
Still, Ash threw cold water on the possibility that individual investors in China and elsewhere suddenly pulled the rug out Friday. He instead pointed to similarly unusual moves in base metals like copper. Key for electric cable, plumbing and more, copper futures fell 4.5% Friday.
"It's easy to look at gold and silver and say this is a retail mania," Ash said. "There is no retail participation in base metals."
The markets' relatively small size ensures that any push or pull from big investors could inspire wild swings in pricing, adding to the mystery around any particular move.
"Metals -- honestly, I have no idea," said Max Kettner, chief multiasset strategist at HSBC.
Pointing to gold's parabolic climb in recent months, which recently pushed it above $5,600 a troy ounce, he added, "There is no liquidity. It went up. On what?"
Write to David Uberti at david.uberti@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
By David Uberti
A violent selloff Friday sent silver prices crashing and gold futures to their biggest one-day dollar decline on record, the latest twist of wild trading that has left precious metals swinging like meme stocks.
For months, a gravity-defying rally had pushed gold and silver prices to all-time highs, enticing speculators and sparking fears that investors the world over were losing faith in traditional currencies like the dollar. Starting Thursday night, the air finally came out.
The declines began around the time reports suggested that President Trump would nominate former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the central bank. Warsh historically has been more concerned with higher inflation than slower growth, soothing Wall Street fears that the Fed would succumb to Trump's push to lower interest rates.
Investors worried about the future of the dollar in an era of higher inflation had piled into precious metals in recent months, powering what has become known on Wall Street as the debasement trade.
After Trump confirmed Warsh's pick Friday morning, the dollar posted its strongest day in months. The speed of subsequent declines in precious-metals markets stretching from central banks to underground vaults to Wall Street trading desks caught investors off guard.
Warsh "is coming with hawkish credentials," said Dec Mullarkey, managing director of SLC Management. "That lowers the risk of debasement across the currency. You're returning to an orderly monetary approach."
Silver prices crashed 31%, their sharpest drop since March 1980, when the Hunt brothers' effort to corner the market unraveled. February futures, which ended Thursday at more than $114 a troy ounce, settled at $78.29. The size of that drop--$35.747--was about the price of an ounce as recently as June.
Front-month gold futures plunged 11% to $4,713.90 a troy ounce, their steepest one-day decline since January 1980.
The moves hammered mining stocks, helping to weigh down the S&P 500 by 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also slipped 0.4%, or 179 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9%.
Some analysts believe Friday's pullback was a much-needed reset for gold and silver after a dizzying rally jacked up costs for industrial users such as solar-panel makers and auto-parts manufacturers. The price of both metals still finished January significantly higher.
On Friday, analysts suggested fast-money traders taking profits at month's end or banks shielding themselves from the impact of sudden declines could have also lent momentum to the selloff.
"The short answer is I have no idea. Nobody knows," said Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault. "I've been in the market for 20 years. I've never seen anything quite like this market."
A precious-metals marketplace, BullionVault's roughly 125,000 customers own more than $10 billion of assets in a network of vaults in financial centers such as London and New York. January was the firm's biggest month ever for new customers, Ash said, larger even than moments of crisis such as Lehman Brothers' collapse or the pandemic.
Still, Ash threw cold water on the possibility that individual investors in China and elsewhere suddenly pulled the rug out Friday. He instead pointed to similarly unusual moves in base metals like copper. Key for electric cable, plumbing and more, copper futures fell 4.5% Friday.
"It's easy to look at gold and silver and say this is a retail mania," Ash said. "There is no retail participation in base metals."
The markets' relatively small size ensures that any push or pull from big investors could inspire wild swings in pricing, adding to the mystery around any particular move.
"Metals -- honestly, I have no idea," said Max Kettner, chief multiasset strategist at HSBC.
Pointing to gold's parabolic climb in recent months, which recently pushed it above $5,600 a troy ounce, he added, "There is no liquidity. It went up. On what?"
Write to David Uberti at david.uberti@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
By David Uberti
A violent selloff Friday sent silver prices crashing and gold futures to their biggest one-day dollar decline on record, the latest twist of wild trading that has left precious metals swinging like meme stocks.
For months, a gravity-defying rally had pushed gold and silver prices to all-time highs, enticing speculators and sparking fears that investors the world over were losing faith in traditional currencies like the dollar. Starting Thursday night, the air finally came out.
The declines began around the time reports suggested that President Trump would nominate former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the central bank. Warsh historically has been more concerned with higher inflation than slower growth, soothing Wall Street fears that the Fed would succumb to Trump's push to lower interest rates.
Investors worried about the future of the dollar in an era of higher inflation had piled into precious metals in recent months, powering what has become known on Wall Street as the debasement trade.
After Trump confirmed Warsh's pick Friday morning, the dollar posted its strongest day in months. The speed of subsequent declines in precious-metals markets stretching from central banks to underground vaults to Wall Street trading desks caught investors off guard.
Warsh "is coming with hawkish credentials," said Dec Mullarkey, managing director of SLC Management. "That lowers the risk of debasement across the currency. You're returning to an orderly monetary approach."
Silver prices crashed 31%, their sharpest drop since March 1980, when the Hunt brothers' effort to corner the market unraveled. February futures, which ended Thursday at more than $114 a troy ounce, settled at $78.29. The size of that drop--$35.747--was about the price of an ounce as recently as June.
Front-month gold futures plunged 11% to $4,713.90 a troy ounce, their steepest one-day decline since January 1980.
The moves hammered mining stocks, helping to weigh down the S&P 500 by 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also slipped 0.4%, or 179 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9%.
Some analysts believe Friday's pullback was a much-needed reset for gold and silver after a dizzying rally jacked up costs for industrial users such as solar-panel makers and auto-parts manufacturers. The price of both metals still finished January significantly higher.
On Friday, analysts suggested fast-money traders taking profits at month's end or banks shielding themselves from the impact of sudden declines could have also lent momentum to the selloff.
"The short answer is I have no idea. Nobody knows," said Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault. "I've been in the market for 20 years. I've never seen anything quite like this market."
A precious-metals marketplace, BullionVault's roughly 125,000 customers own more than $10 billion of assets in a network of vaults in financial centers such as London and New York. January was the firm's biggest month ever for new customers, Ash said, larger even than moments of crisis such as Lehman Brothers' collapse or the pandemic.
Still, Ash threw cold water on the possibility that individual investors in China and elsewhere suddenly pulled the rug out Friday. He instead pointed to similarly unusual moves in base metals like copper. Key for electric cable, plumbing and more, copper futures fell 4.5% Friday.
"It's easy to look at gold and silver and say this is a retail mania," Ash said. "There is no retail participation in base metals."
The markets' relatively small size ensures that any push or pull from big investors could inspire wild swings in pricing, adding to the mystery around any particular move.
"Metals -- honestly, I have no idea," said Max Kettner, chief multiasset strategist at HSBC.
Pointing to gold's parabolic climb in recent months, which recently pushed it above $5,600 a troy ounce, he added, "There is no liquidity. It went up. On what?"
Write to David Uberti at david.uberti@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 30, 2026 17:03 ET (22:03 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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