Major price drops in gold and silver, like the massive smash down last Friday, reveal a lot about buyers and holders of the monetary metals.
Newcomers and momentum traders panicked on Friday, fearing the sky had fallen on their jackpot hopes and get-rich dreams. Many were chasing profits as gold and silver prices soared to repeated all-time highs in 2025, followed by the record run-up that ended on the final trading day of January.
Now novices are confused—emotionally, financially and psychologically perplexed—about whether to sell their recently acquired assets or to buy more metal with the price drop.
A concerned friend, who bought gold above $5,000 an ounce last month, reached out to me to inquire whether the bull market was over.
Putting the largest price plunges in history (in dollar terms, not percentage-wise) into perspective, I explained that while Friday’s market carnage wiped out much of January’s gains, gold and silver prices remained higher on the year. Gold was still up $560 and silver by $13 an ounce since Jan. 1.
I noted that Friday’s price nosedives were based on trading of financial derivatives and paper contracts, not on the dumping of physical metal onto the market. Supply and demand fundamentals for actual gold and silver hadn’t changed, I asserted, as central banks continue to accumulate the former and industrial users consume increasing tonnages of the later amid growing production deficits.
Plus, I added that extreme volatility is a psychological tactic used by market insiders and managers to quash euphoria, thwart speculation and discourage buying of physical metal to protect short-sellers.
“It works,” I said.
My explanation seemed to put his mind at ease when he conceded he has no immediate plans to sell his precious metals.
Prudent Rational for Accumulating Precious Metals
Longtime buyers and holders of the metals took the drops in stride. They’ve witnessed price plunges many times before, including the incredible crashes in 2013 and 1980. They accumulate gold and silver because they know precious metals retain value unlike debased and depreciating fiat currencies. They also view gold and silver as money and a means to preserve wealth, not as commodities to trade for short-term gain and profits.
A veteran stacker and one of my Substack subscribers who ordered my new book, “Patient Million: A Financial Memoir,” conveyed his wisdom and disclosed his reasons for saving and holding the monetary metals.
“I’m 89, been stacking since 1964 when [President] Lyndon Johnson made the announcement that we were taking silver out of the coinage,” he wrote in an email to me. “I started saving 90% junk, pre-1965 [silver coins], which got me started.”
“I’ve never sold any precious metals,” he added. “My family is protected and several non-profits are going to be in for a surprise one of these days.”
By the way, the silver content in a 1964 Roosevelt dime is worth $6.17 based on the present silver price, according to coinflation.com.
I know not what tomorrow’s market trading will bring, or whether gold and silver prices will rise or fall on the COMEX, LBMA, or in Shanghai and other Asian markets in the near term, but I do understand the learned and prudent rationale for accumulating precious metals.
While painful and unsettling, market machinations provide a benefit. Price volatility reveals human emotions and motivations, which distinguish—and separate—the golden, wholesome wheat from the expendable, lightweight chaff that scatters in the wind.
© 2026 Stuart Englert. All rights reserved.
Englert is the author of “Rigged: Exposing the Largest Financial Fraud in History.”
Great anlysis. The wheat from chaff metaphor really captures how volatility acts as a filter. Back in 2020, I watched people panic sell during small corrections, only to miss the real gains later. The emotional response to price drops is probably the single biggest predictor of who'll stick around long enough to benifit.