Precious-Metals Plunge Hits Retail Investors, Too -- WSJ

Dow Jones01-31

By Xavier Martinez

You don't need a closet full of silver bars to be hit by the precious-metals rout today. Exchange-traded funds emerged two decades ago as a way for retail investors to wager on metal prices without storing piles of bullion or obtaining a license to trade futures. Now, those same funds have a front-row seat to Friday's massive selloff.

-- SPDR Gold Shares, which tracks the price of gold, fell 10% Friday, the largest daily decline since the ETF was created in November 2004.

-- The largest silver exchange-traded fund, iShares Silver Trust, also suffered its worst decline since its inception in April 2006. It was down 29% Friday.

-- There is a silver lining: Both ETFs are still trading at a higher price than at the start of this year.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 30, 2026 16:27 ET (21:27 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

At the request of the copyright holder, you need to log in to view this content

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

Comments

We need your insight to fill this gap

Leave a comment

{"i18n":{"language":"en_US"},"isChannel":false,"data":{"share":"https://ttm.financial/m/news/2607302126?lang=en_US&edition=fundamental","thumbnail":"","is_english":true,"pubTime":"2026-01-31 05:27","share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","id":"2607302126","market":"fut","top_or_hot":-1,"title":"Precious-Metals Plunge Hits Retail Investors, Too -- WSJ","media":"Dow Jones","content":"<font class=\"NormalMinus1\" face=\"Arial\">\n<p>\n       By Xavier Martinez \n</p>\n<p>\n     You don't need a closet full of silver bars to be hit by the precious-metals rout today. Exchange-traded funds emerged two decades ago as a way for retail investors to wager on metal prices without storing piles of bullion or obtaining a license to trade futures. Now, those same funds have a front-row seat to Friday's massive selloff. \n</p>\n<p>\n     -- SPDR Gold Shares, which tracks the price of gold, fell 10% Friday, the largest daily decline since the ETF was created in November 2004. \n</p>\n<p>\n     -- The largest silver exchange-traded fund, <a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/EEMA\">iShares</a> Silver Trust, also suffered its worst decline since its inception in April 2006. It was down 29% Friday. \n</p>\n<p>\n     -- There is a silver lining: Both ETFs are still trading at a higher price than at the start of this year. \n</p>\n<p>\n       This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  January 30, 2026 16:27 ET (21:27 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>","source":null,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Precious-Metals Plunge Hits Retail Investors, Too -- WSJ</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 11px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;line-height: 11px;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nPrecious-Metals Plunge Hits Retail Investors, Too -- WSJ\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n<div class=\"head\" \">\n\n\n<div class=\"h-thumb\" style=\"background-image:url(https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99);background-size:cover;\"></div>\n\n<div class=\"h-content\">\n<p class=\"h-name\">Dow Jones </p>\n<p class=\"h-time\">2026-01-31 05:27</p>\n</div>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<font class=\"NormalMinus1\" face=\"Arial\">\n<p>\n       By Xavier Martinez \n</p>\n<p>\n     You don't need a closet full of silver bars to be hit by the precious-metals rout today. Exchange-traded funds emerged two decades ago as a way for retail investors to wager on metal prices without storing piles of bullion or obtaining a license to trade futures. Now, those same funds have a front-row seat to Friday's massive selloff. \n</p>\n<p>\n     -- SPDR Gold Shares, which tracks the price of gold, fell 10% Friday, the largest daily decline since the ETF was created in November 2004. \n</p>\n<p>\n     -- The largest silver exchange-traded fund, <a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/EEMA\">iShares</a> Silver Trust, also suffered its worst decline since its inception in April 2006. It was down 29% Friday. \n</p>\n<p>\n     -- There is a silver lining: Both ETFs are still trading at a higher price than at the start of this year. \n</p>\n<p>\n       This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  January 30, 2026 16:27 ET (21:27 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","isBrief":false,"type":0,"news_type":1,"symbol":"BK1224","symbol_name":"专卖店","start_time":0,"source_url":"https://dowjonesnews.com/newdjn/logon.aspx?AL=N","article_id":"2607302126","we_media_id":"106","thumbnails":[],"rights":null,"url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2607302126","pubTimestamp":1769808420,"columns":[],"sourceInfo":null,"weMediaInfo":{"media_name":"Dow Jones","introduction":"Dow Jones publishes the world’s most trusted business news and financial information in a variety of media.","home_visible":0,"id":"106","head_image":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99"},"summary":"You don't need a closet full of silver bars to be hit by the precious-metals rout today. Exchange-traded funds emerged two decades ago as a way for retail investors to wager on metal prices without storing piles of bullion or obtaining a license to trade futures. Now, those same funds have a front-row seat to Friday's massive selloff.-- SPDR Gold Shares, which tracks the price of gold, fell 10% Friday, the largest daily decline since the ETF was created in November 2004.-- The largest silver exchange-traded fund, iShares Silver Trust, also suffered its worst decline since its inception in April 2006. It was down 29% Friday.-- There is a silver lining: Both ETFs are still trading at a higher price than at the start of this year.This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL .","collect":0,"end_time":0,"defaultTopTitle":"","property":[],"viewcount":null,"language":"en","relate_stocks":{"BK1224":"专卖店","BK4211":"区域性银行","BK4588":"碎股","BK4550":"红杉资本持仓","BK4547":"WSB热门概念","BK4585":"ETF&股票定投概念","SLV":"白银ETF-iShares","BK1545":"奢侈品股","BK4504":"桥水持仓","BK4570":"地缘局势概念股","GLD":"黄金ETF-SPDR"},"translate_title":"贵金属暴跌也打击了散户投资者——华尔街日报","themeId":"2ed5fddde50415bfc4b333f07fa9880f","isJumpTheme":false,"ttsUrl":null,"symbols_score_info":{"GLD":1.91,"XAUUSD.FOREX":1.91,"XAGUSD.FOREX":1.92,"SLV":1.92},"content_text":"By Xavier Martinez \n\n\n     You don't need a closet full of silver bars to be hit by the precious-metals rout today. Exchange-traded funds emerged two decades ago as a way for retail investors to wager on metal prices without storing piles of bullion or obtaining a license to trade futures. Now, those same funds have a front-row seat to Friday's massive selloff. \n\n\n     -- SPDR Gold Shares, which tracks the price of gold, fell 10% Friday, the largest daily decline since the ETF was created in November 2004. \n\n\n     -- The largest silver exchange-traded fund, iShares Silver Trust, also suffered its worst decline since its inception in April 2006. It was down 29% Friday. \n\n\n     -- There is a silver lining: Both ETFs are still trading at a higher price than at the start of this year. \n\n\n       This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n\n\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n\n\n  January 30, 2026 16:27 ET (21:27 GMT)\n\n\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.","kind":"highlight","is_publish_news":true,"is_publish_highlight":false,"is_publish_live":false,"is_publish_wemedia":null,"editions":null,"column":"","sentiment":"-1","news_tag":"","news_rank":0,"symbols":[],"gpt_button":0,"need_auth":true,"code":"91000000","status":"200"},"commentList":[],"isCommentEnd":true,"newsSizeData":{"likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"favoriteSize":0,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false},"APP":{"userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)","isDev":false,"isTTM":true,"tenantId":"TBGLOBAL","deviceId":"web-server-community-laohu8-v3","version":"4.36.2","shortVersion":"4.36.2","platform":"web","vendor":"web","appName":"ttm","isIOS":false,"isAndroid":false,"isTiger":false,"isTHS":false,"isWeiXin":false,"isWeiXinMini":false,"isWeiBo":false,"isQQ":false,"isBaiduSwan":false,"isBaiduBox":false,"isDingTalk":false,"isToutiao":false,"isOnePlus":false,"isHuaWei":false,"isXiaomi":false,"isXiaomiWebView":false,"isOppo":false,"isVivo":false,"isSamsung":false,"isMobile":false},"href":"/m/news/2607302126","isCrawlerRequest":true}