Gold and silver plunge as wild swings rock metals markets

An attendant holds a one kilogram silver bar at Conclude Zrt bullion dealer arranged in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 17, 2025. Photo by Akos Stiller/Bloomberg

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Gold and silver suffered the biggest sell-off in years, in a whipsawing reversal of a scorching rally that’s lifted prices to all-time highs.

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Gold dropped as much as eight per cent to crash through US$5,000 an ounce, while silver slumped below US$100 as the sell-off swept through the broader metals markets. Copper dropped more than three per cent in London, after surging above US$14,000 a tonne for the first time on Thursday, in its biggest intraday jump since 2008.

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The selloff came as the dollar rebounded after a report the Trump administration is preparing to nominate Kevin Warsh for United States Federal Reserve chair. The greenback’s rally undercut sentiment among investors who had been piling into metals after the president signaled a willingness to let the currency weaken. Chinese investors have led the charge, buying in such force that it prompted the Shanghai Futures Exchange to rush out measures to cool the surge in precious and industrial metal markets.

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Silver plunged more than 17 per cent toward US$95 an ounce, intensifying a period of extreme volatility that’s rocked the precious metals industry. A gauge of the dollar rose as much as 0.6 per cent, making precious metals more expensive for most buyers. Platinum tumbled more than 10 per cent.

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U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce Warsh as his nomination for Fed chair, Bloomberg News reported. The former Fed governor has a longstanding reputation as an inflation hawk, but has aligned himself with the president in recent months by arguing publicly for lower interest rates. Trump said he would announce his nominee on Friday morning U.S. time.

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Gold’s move “validates the cautionary tale of fast-up, fast-down,” said Christopher Wong, a strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. While reports of Warsh’s nomination were a trigger, a correction was overdue, he said. “It’s like one of those excuses markets are waiting for to unwind those parabolic moves.”

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With gold and silver jumping so much already this year, some technical indicators flashed warning signs. One is the relative-strength index, which in recent weeks signaled that both metals may have become overbought and due a correction. Gold’s RSI recently hit 90, the highest it has been for the precious metal in decades.

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Even after the pullback, gold is still up around 17 per cent in January, closing in on its sharpest monthly gain since 1980. The jump in silver has been eye-watering, with the white metal up nearly 40 per cent so far this year.

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The Trump administration’s upending of the global order — including the seizure of Venezuela’s leader, along with threats to annex Greenland and impose tariff against allies — has been a major driver. Most recently, Trump has been warning of a possible strike on Iran and saying he will put levies on any countries that provide oil to Cuba.

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Meanwhile, the risk of another U.S. government shutdown was avoided after Trump and Senate Democrats reached a tentative deal. The White House is continuing to negotiate with Democrats on placing new limits on immigration raids that have provoked a national outcry.

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