NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 10:10 ET
- Silver rose Tuesday after a record spike above $83 an ounce and a steep one-day slide.
- Gold edged up after retreating from record highs; platinum and palladium also fell sharply.
- Analysts pointed to profit-taking and thin year-end liquidity amplifying swings in precious metals.
Silver prices bounced on Tuesday after a sharp selloff a day earlier erased a brief run above $80 an ounce and rattled the broader precious-metals complex. Spot silver was up 2.5% at $74.10 an ounce, while gold gained 0.7% to $4,361, Reuters reported. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-wrapup-1-2025-12-30/
The whipsaw matters because it hit during a holiday-shortened week when liquidity is thin and price swings can be exaggerated. It also comes after a surge that pushed silver and gold to fresh records into year-end.
Silver has outpaced other precious metals in 2025, fueled by tight supply and demand from both investors and industry. The sudden reversal is forcing traders to reassess risk at historically high price levels heading into 2026.
Reuters said silver had briefly hit a new record around $84 an ounce before sliding 8.7% in its biggest one-day fall since August 2020, dragging gold and copper down with it. The white metal then recovered ground on Tuesday.
In U.S. trading on Monday, spot silver touched an all-time high of $83.62 before falling 9.5% to $71.66 by 1:51 p.m. ET. Spot gold slid 4.5% to $4,330.79 after setting a record $4,549.71 on Friday, while U.S. gold futures for February settled 4.6% lower at $4,343.60.
Platinum sank 14.5% to $2,096.53 an ounce after hitting a record $2,478.50 earlier in the session. Palladium slid 15.9% to $1,617.47.
“We are seeing profit-taking pullbacks off of those spectacularly high levels,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures. 1
Daniel Ghali, a commodity strategist at TD Securities, said thin holiday trading and liquidity constraints helped exacerbate the drop, Reuters reported. The pullback has come even as investors have held onto much of 2025’s gains.
Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG, said price action and panic buying helped drive the initial surge and flagged higher margin requirements at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Margin requirements are the cash traders must post to keep futures positions open, and higher margins can force some traders to reduce exposure.
Even after the slide, silver was still on track for an annual gain of about 156%, while gold has surged roughly 65% this year, according to Reuters.
Reuters attributed silver’s rally to its critical mineral status, supply shortages and rising industrial and investor demand. A critical mineral is a resource governments deem important for economic and supply security, and silver’s industrial uses include electronics and solar panels.
Seeking Alpha said Tuesday’s rebound followed the metal’s steepest drop in five years, after the biggest intraday fall since August 2020. 2
Mike McGlone, a senior commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, told Yahoo Finance that investors should be cautious when rallies become stretched. 3
