Gold and silver just went through one of the most violent moves seen in years, with roughly $1.7 trillion in market value erased in barely 90 minutes. The selloff came out of nowhere and happened so fast that many traders barely had time to react before prices were already deep in the red.
Silver was hit especially hard. After trading near $110, it dipped aggressively toward the $103 area, while gold dropped from above $5,100 to almost $5,000 in the same window. What makes this move stand out is also how quickly both metals bounced back afterward, with gold now back near $5,100 and silver once again trading around $110.
This does not look like investors suddenly losing faith in precious metals. It looks much more like the market hitting a mechanical pressure point. One of the key triggers could be a margin rule change by CME Group, which recently raised initial margin requirements for silver futures to roughly $25,000–$32,500 per contract. On top of that, the exchange shifted to percentage-based margin rules, which means capital requirements rise automatically when volatility spikes.
BREAKING: Gold and silver erase -$1.7 trillion of market cap in 90 minutes in one of the largest reversals in history. pic.twitter.com/lILBYanZE6
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) January 26, 2026
For leveraged traders, especially smaller ones, that is a dangerous combination. When prices started slipping, margin calls likely kicked in almost instantly, forcing traders to close positions regardless of conviction. That kind of forced selling can turn a modest dip into a waterfall in minutes, which is exactly what played out here.
The speed of the recovery is just as telling. Buyers stepped in almost immediately after the selling pressure faded, which indicates that underlying demand for gold and silver is still very much alive. If this were a true trend reversal, prices would not have snapped back so quickly or so cleanly.
This episode says more about how stretched positioning has become than it does about the long-term outlook for metals. When markets are crowded with leverage, even small structural changes can trigger massive price swings, without any real change in fundamentals.
In other words, gold and silver did not collapse because the story changed. They collapsed because the plumbing cracked for a moment. And once the pressure was released, the market went right back to where it was heading before the chaos.
For traders, this is a warning shot. Precious metals may still be in a powerful uptrend, but the path higher is clearly not going to be smooth or forgiving.
Read also: Here’s the Silver Price If Gold Hits $6,000 per Ounce
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