NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 00:34 ET — Market closed
- Barrick Mining shares fell 4.7% Monday as gold and silver retreated from record highs in year-end trading.
- CME raised margin requirements for precious metals futures, pushing up the cash needed to hold leveraged positions.
- Traders are watching bullion’s next move and upcoming Fed minutes for clues on rates.
Barrick Mining Corp shares closed down 4.7% at $44.02 on Monday, after trading between $43.30 and $44.93. The stock was little changed late in after-hours trading at about $44.00. 1
The selloff matters because Barrick and other gold miners have been moving in lockstep with bullion, where big price swings can quickly feed into equity positioning. The late-December tape has also been thin, which tends to exaggerate both drops and rebounds.
CME Group’s move to raise margin requirements for metals futures added another pressure point, by increasing the cash traders must post to hold those contracts. Margin is essentially a good-faith deposit, and when it rises, leveraged bets often get pared back fast. 2
Barrick trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “B” and in Toronto under “ABX,” after the company changed its New York listing symbol from “GOLD” earlier this year. 3
The pullback swept across the sector. Newmont and other miners slid as investors rotated out of a red-hot precious metals trade that had pushed gold and silver sharply higher into year-end. 4
Spot gold fell 4.5% to $4,330.79 an ounce on Monday afternoon in New York, while spot silver slid 9.5% to $71.66, Reuters reported. “All the metals moved up to recent and all-time highs. We are seeing profit-taking pullbacks off of those spectacularly high levels,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures. 5
Early Tuesday, bullion steadied, with spot gold up 0.7% at $4,363.79 an ounce in Asian hours and silver also higher, after the sharp setback. Analysts said the prior run left the market vulnerable to leveraged long positions being squeezed as traders took profits. 6
Macro focus is also shifting back to interest rates. Investors are looking ahead to minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, which markets expect to highlight policy uncertainty over the path for 2026. 7
For Barrick, company-specific risk remains part of the story alongside metal prices. Reuters reported earlier this month that Barrick had resumed operational control of its Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali and planned a gradual restart after a settlement with the government. 8
Barrick has also said it is evaluating an initial public offering of a new vehicle holding its North American gold assets, and that it plans to update the market when it reports full-year 2025 results in February 2026. 9
Before the next session, traders will be watching whether gold holds above the levels seen during Monday’s washout, or whether higher margin requirements keep speculative demand on a tighter leash.
Rate expectations are the other near-term lever. Any shift in how markets read the Fed minutes could move real yields and the dollar—two inputs that often matter for non-yielding assets like gold, and by extension miners.
Chart watchers in Barrick are likely to keep an eye on Monday’s low near $43.30 as a first support area, with the prior close near $46 acting as an early test if the group rebounds. February’s results and the company’s IPO update are the next clear catalysts for stock-specific positioning.
