Editor’s Note
This article details a volatile week for silver, which surrendered recovery gains after last week’s record highs and sharp sell-off. The moves occurred amid a strong U.S. dollar pressuring precious metals and broader market declines affecting tech stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Silver has experienced a turbulent trading week since last Friday’s crash. The metal gave up gains from a brief recovery that followed last week’s record highs and sharp sell-off. The gold price also fell as a strong U.S. dollar put pressure on precious metals. This movement occurred within the context of a broader market decline, which also saw technology stocks and cryptocurrencies under pressure.
The silver price continues to face volatile weeks: On Thursday, it broke down again as precious metals came under pressure amid a broader market decline. The silver spot price was around $80.05 per troy ounce (approximately €67.40) at about 8:27 AM German time on Thursday, down about 9.2%. Earlier in the trading session, prices had already fallen by up to 17%. Thursday’s price plunge erased two days of gains for the precious metal, after it had already crashed by up to 36% at the peak of the sell-off last Friday. The decline marks a sharp reversal for a market that was soaring just days ago, when silver reached a record high of over $121 per ounce (around €102) last week.
Gold also gave way, falling below the $5,000 mark (approximately €4,211) and is now trading at around $4,851 per ounce (approximately €4,112). The decline in precious metals coincided with a rise in the U.S. dollar to a two-week high, making dollar-denominated commodities more expensive.
Analysts warn that silver is likely to remain particularly volatile as the market is much smaller than that for gold – a dynamic that can amplify price fluctuations. Even before Friday’s sell-off, hedge funds had already begun to unwind their long positions in silver and other metals. Institutional investors reduced their exposure to the sharply risen metals and shifted capital into energy and other commodities.
In other market areas, risk assets were generally under pressure, with tech stocks and cryptocurrencies particularly giving way in turbulent trading. Software stocks came under pressure this week after Anthropic introduced a new AI tool capable of handling office and administrative work in the legal sector. Providers of legal software bore the brunt of the initial sell-off before losses spread to the entire software sector.
The tech sell-off also spilled over to Asia with technology stocks. On Thursday, Samsung Electronics and SoftBank Group Corp. fell by 6% and 7%, respectively. Bitcoin was trading around $71,200 (approximately €59,969), representing a decline of about 7% in the last 24 hours and around 19% in the last seven days.