Gold and Silver Shed $400 Billion in Minutes. Here’s What Really Happened

Gold and silver lost about $400 billion in paper value within minutes on Wednesday as US bond yields hit their highest level since 2002. The figure reprices metal already owned. It does not measure money pulled from markets.

Gold slid from about $4,120 to near $4,066 an ounce in a 15-minute window. Likewise, silver fell from roughly $60.13 to $59.00 before both metals bounced.

How a $54 Gold Drop Becomes a $400 Billion Loss

The headline number comes from multiplication. The World Gold Council estimates about 216,000 tonnes of gold have been mined in history. That is close to 7 billion ounces.

A $54 drop across that stock marks it down by roughly $375 billion. Silver, valued near $3.65 trillion in BeInCrypto’s $1 trillion metals selloff report, adds about $67 billion for its $1.13 fall. Together, that lands near $440 billion.

However, owners who did not sell still hold the same ounces. Only the price used to value them changed.

Why Rising Bond Yields Pulled Gold and Silver Lower

The 10-year Treasury yield, the interest rate on 10-year US government debt, reached 5.35% on Wednesday. The 30-year yield touched 5.70%.

Gold and silver pay no interest. When bonds pay more, holding metal means giving up that income.

Meanwhile, traders were bracing for a $39 billion sale of 10-year notes and minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, when it raised rates to 3.75%–4.00%.

CME FedWatch data showed a 69% chance of another hike in December.

“Here we go again. Traders have reacted to rising bond yields by selling gold and silver…Yet falling bond prices and rising yields are extremely bullish for precious metals,” Schiff wrote.

Gold is down 7.2% over the past month. Analysts hold that 2026 could be its most volatile year since 1982. The bond auction and Fed minutes later Wednesday are the next tests for yields, and for the metals that move against them.

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