New York, Jan 30, 2026, 13:35 EST — Regular session
- Spot silver down nearly 22% to about $90.66 an ounce after hitting a record $121.64 a day earlier.
- Dollar firmer as investors reassess the U.S. interest-rate outlook, prompting profit-taking across precious metals.
- Volatility spilled into silver-linked funds, with some leveraged products forced to rebalance intraday.
Spot silver fell 21.92% to $90.66 an ounce by 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday after Donald Trump said he would tap former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh as the next chair. The metal touched $89.93 and was on track for its biggest daily drop on record, based on LSEG data, after scaling a record $121.64 on Thursday; it was still up more than 23% in January. Suki Cooper at Standard Chartered Bank said the dollar and expectations for “real yields” — inflation-adjusted bond returns — helped trigger profit-taking. Reuters
The reversal matters because the January run-up had become a momentum trade, fed by thin liquidity and fear of missing out as investors bet on sharp U.S. rate cuts. Tom Price at Panmure Liberum said the market saw Warsh as “rational” and not pushing “aggressively for rate cuts”. Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank said gold and silver were “ripe for a correction”, while independent analyst Ross Norman said “precious metals have discovered gravity”. Reuters
Warsh is set to take over when Jerome Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in May, and his confirmation process in Congress is expected to keep rate expectations in play. Markets see him as someone who would support lower rates but stop short of the more aggressive easing priced earlier in the week.
Just a day earlier, spot silver had eased 2.1% to $114.141 after reaching $121.64, and was up more than 60% for the month on supply deficits and momentum buying. Guy Wolf of Marex said the small silver market is vulnerable to speculative inflows that leave prices “totally detached” from physical demand. Reuters
Some of the rally has also leaned on the industrial case for silver — and on worries that China’s new licensing rules for exports could tighten supply if shipments slow. A Reuters Open Interest column said only 44 companies are approved to export the metal this year and next, and China shipped about 5,100 metric tons last year, the most since 2008. Given silver’s use in solar panels, the piece noted, traders are watching whether domestic demand starts taking priority over exports.
Leverage Shares plc said its 3x long silver product — a leveraged structure that targets three times the daily move — rebalanced intraday after iShares Silver Trust fell through a trigger in its index rules. It said SLV hit $87.89 at 11:11:25 EST, down 16.75% from $105.57, forcing an automatic rebalance.
For investors, the speed of the swing is the story. Silver can move like an industrial metal one hour, then trade like a crowded macro bet the next.
But the liquidation can feed on itself: falling prices can trigger margin calls, when brokers demand extra cash and positions get cut. That kind of mechanical selling can overwhelm physical demand signals, at least for a while.
Next up, traders are watching the U.S. jobs report for January, due on Feb. 6 at 8:30 a.m. ET from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for any read-through to rate-cut pricing. Attention then shifts to liquidity around China’s nine-day Lunar New Year holiday, running Feb. 15-23, when trading desks and factories often slow.
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