NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 00:06 ET
- Silver fell nearly 10% after touching a record above $83 an ounce, reversing a year-end surge past $80.
- Traders pointed to profit-taking and higher margin requirements — cash posted to hold futures positions — after a burst of volatility.
- Elon Musk highlighted reports that China will require export licenses from Jan. 1, adding to supply worries for an industrial metal.
Silver prices fell sharply on Monday after surging past $80 an ounce to record territory, a swift reversal that rattled precious metals markets into the final trading days of the year.
The move matters now because silver is both a financial asset and a critical industrial input. A tighter supply picture — including reports of new Chinese export licensing rules from January — collides with heavy use in electronics and clean-energy equipment, leaving manufacturers and investors exposed to abrupt swings.
It also underlines how quickly leverage can unwind. Silver’s 2025 rally has drawn speculative money, and the latest whipsaw showed how exchange rule changes and thin holiday liquidity can amplify price moves.
Spot silver hit an all-time high of $83.62 an ounce before falling 9.5% to $71.66, while spot gold dropped 4.5% to $4,330.79 and platinum slid 14.5% after touching a record earlier in the session. “We are seeing profit-taking pullbacks off of those spectacularly high levels,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures. 1
Musk weighed in as the rally accelerated, responding on X to a post that said China will begin requiring government licenses for companies to export silver starting Jan. 1. Fox Business reported that iShares Silver Trust — an exchange-traded fund, or ETF, that tracks the metal and trades like a stock — has mirrored silver’s gains this year. 2
Silver’s turbulence has been extreme even by commodity standards. Data cited by Bloomberg showed prices have risen more than 25% in December alone, on track for the biggest monthly gain since 2020, and the metal briefly pushed above $84 before sliding back toward $70 in thin trading. 3
One catalyst was higher margin requirements at CME Group, which runs the world’s biggest U.S. futures exchanges. CME raised the cash that traders must post to hold positions in gold, silver and other metals, a step exchanges often take after sharp rallies to protect against defaults. 4
That change can force leveraged traders to add funds quickly or cut positions, turning a pullback into a slide. The effect is often most visible when volumes are light and year-end positioning is underway.
Supply anxiety has also risen on reports that China will tighten controls on silver exports beginning Jan. 1. The Guardian reported that the prospect of new limits has added to concerns over availability for sectors such as electrification, solar power, electric vehicles and data centers. 5
Silver’s selloff also dragged on the broader precious-metals complex, with gold and platinum retreating from record levels after outsized gains this year. The reversals have put traders on alert for further volatility into early January.
Even after Monday’s drop, silver remains far above where it started 2025, and it has outpaced gold in percentage terms over the year. That performance has attracted both momentum traders and investors looking for inflation and currency hedges.
For the near term, market participants are watching for clearer details on any China export-licensing framework and whether additional margin changes follow if volatility persists.
