Precious metals drop amid profit taking; silver, platinum retreat from record highs

Precious metals retreated sharply on Monday, with silver and platinum falling from record highs hit earlier in the session, as investors booked profits after recent rallies.

Spot gold fell 4.2% to $4,340.52 an ounce by 12:00 p.m. ET (17:00 GMT) after hitting a record $4,549.71 on Friday, while U.S. gold futures for February delivery lost 4.3% to $4,358.60.

Platinum dropped nearly 13% to $2,134.59/ozafter touching a record peak of $2,478.50 earlier in the session, while silver shed 8.4% to $72.51 an ounce, also retreating from a record high of $83.62 hit earlier in the session.

Spot palladium plunged 15% to $1,636.80/oz.

"All the metals moved up to recent and all-time highs. We are seeing profit-taking pullbacks off of those spectacularly high levels," said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.

Gold has surged about 65% this year. Platinum and palladium are also on track for annual gains. Silver has outperformed all with a 150% gain so far, driven by its critical mineral status, supply shortages and rising industrial and investor demand.

"I believe that the underlying fundamentals of (silver) supply constraints remain factors in the market and we still have positive prospects going into 2026," Meger added.

President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday that Russia would review its position in peace negotiations after what Moscow said was a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian presidential residence, the Kremlin said.

Gold is a traditional safe-haven asset that performs well during periods of economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

Elsewhere, Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities, said that the melt up in prices were exacerbated by liquidity constraints largely associated with the deadline for the President to make a recommendation to the critical minerals investigation, and holiday-thinned trading.

Reuters