A jeweler displays gold and silver bars at his shop in downtown Kuwait City on January 12, 2026.
Yasser Al Zayat | AFP | Getty Images
Gold and silver rallied on Monday, regaining ground after last weekend’s steep declines.
Gold futures rose more than 1% on Monday to $4,782. The yellow metal fell nearly 10% on Friday, with prices below $5,000 an ounce.
silver futures It rose more than 5% to $82.89. Silver, which had soared along with gold on safe-haven demand and an influx of speculative funds, plunged 28% on Friday, its worst day since March 1980.
CME Group raised margin requirements following last week’s sharp selloff, effective after market close on Monday. Margins on COMEX gold futures increased from 6% to 8%, and margins on COMEX 5,000 oz silver futures increased from 11% to 15%.
Analysts said it was a rebound from Friday’s sharp reversal. On Friday, optimism over U.S. interest rate cuts collided with a sudden reassessment of the Fed’s leadership after President Donald Trump nominated former Fed Director Kevin Warsh to replace Chairman Jerome Powell when his term ends in May.
“As a result, the ‘Buy America’ trade is returning and the independent bid that drove gold and silver to record highs below $5,600 and below $122 an ounce early Thursday is unwinding,” Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers, said in a note Monday.
Christopher Forbes, head of Asia and Middle East at CMC Markets, said gold’s sharp decline reflected a typical correction after an extraordinary rally, rather than a failure of long-term bullish momentum.
Gold’s retreat was “a typical air pocket after an extraordinary run,” Forbes said. “Profit taking, dollar strength and new geopolitical headlines coming out of Washington burst the bubble in crowded trading.”
The dollar index, which measures the dollar’s strength against a basket of currencies, has risen about 0.8% since Thursday.
A stronger dollar makes dollar-priced gold less attractive to foreign buyers, while higher interest rates make U.S. Treasuries more attractive as a safe haven, raising the opportunity cost of owning the interest-free yellow metal.
Mr. Warsh has advocated tight monetary policy, and his announcement as Fed chairman caused the dollar to rise. At the same time, President Trump’s statements hinting at a possible deal with Iran appear to have allayed geopolitical concerns. WTI crude oil Futures fell about 4% on Monday.
In the short term, gold prices will continue to rise but be volatile as markets await further clarity on Warsh’s policy direction, Forbes said.
Silver prices are still up about 16% since the beginning of the year, and gold prices are also up about 8% since the beginning of the year. Both gold and silver saw record highs last year, soaring around 65% and 145% respectively.
“A resurgence of dollar weakness and confirmation of dovish Warsh will bring back bullish buying,” Forbes said, adding that he remains bullish on bullion over the 12-month horizon, and that if growth and inflation remain uneven and the Fed continues to ease, bullion could return to recent highs.
