SLV stock tumbles after silver’s record run reverses into a late-month selloff

SLV, the iShares Silver Trust, plunged on Friday as a blistering January rally in precious metals snapped into a sharp, profit-taking-driven reversal. The SLV stock move matters beyond one ticker: it’s a live test of how crowded positioning, thin liquidity, and macro headlines can whip a popular commodity trade in both directions within hours.

“keywords = slv” has been a common way traders have framed their search and watchlists this week, and “slv stock” has trended alongside it as volume surged and price swings widened.

What happened in Friday’s selloff

As of 12:20 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, SLV was trading around $81.94, down roughly 22% on the day after opening near $89.38 and trading as high as $94.95. Trading volume was already near 188 million shares by that timestamp, signaling unusually heavy activity for a fund that often becomes a short-term vehicle during silver spikes.

A big driver behind the timing was the calendar. Friday is the final trading day of January, and the month featured an outsized run-up in precious metals that left many investors sitting on large, fast gains. When a trade gets crowded and liquidity thins, even modest profit-taking can become a cascade.

SLV: where price and volume stood

Macro catalyst: rates, dollar, and the rush to de-risk

The day’s reversal in metals coincided with a fresh macro jolt: President Donald Trump said he had selected Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve. Markets interpreted the development as less supportive of aggressive rate cuts than some investors had been expecting, and the U.S. dollar firmed.

For precious metals, a stronger dollar can act like gravity, since bullion is priced in dollars and becomes more expensive for non-U.S. buyers when the currency rises. That’s a familiar relationship, but it tends to bite harder when a market has been sprinting upward and sentiment is fragile.

In London trading earlier Friday, silver was down sharply after hitting records the prior day. By 7:01 a.m. ET, spot silver was around $103.40 an ounce, down about 11%, after printing a record near $121.60 on Thursday.

Why swings can be extreme in silver-linked products

SLV is designed to track the price of silver bullion (before fees and expenses), but the path day-to-day can feel harsher than many equity investors expect. Silver is a smaller, more volatility-prone market than gold, and it can be especially sensitive to fast-moving flows from traders chasing momentum.

Fund structure also matters in practice. SLV is widely traded, optioned, and used for tactical exposure, which can amplify intraday moves when positioning gets one-sided. The iShares product page showed the trust at roughly $59.1 billion in net assets as of Jan. 29, 2026, with about 499 million ounces held in the trust and a 0.50% sponsor fee. A large, liquid wrapper can attract even more short-term traffic when headlines hit.

This month’s backdrop featured classic “fear of missing out” behavior, followed by a reminder that commodity markets move both ways. When traders crowd into the same idea, the exit can be narrow.

What comes next for the SLV trade

The near-term outlook depends less on narratives and more on observable stress points:

• Dollar direction and rates expectations: If the dollar continues to strengthen or the path for rate cuts looks less certain, silver’s tailwind can fade quickly.

• Liquidity pockets and positioning: Thin conditions can exaggerate moves, particularly around major macro events and month-end rebalancing.

• Asia holiday effects: China’s Lunar New Year holiday begins Feb. 16, 2026, which can shift liquidity patterns and risk appetite for metals.

For investors, the practical takeaway is that SLV is not a slow-moving “savings” vehicle; it is a liquid, tradable proxy for silver that can gap and whip around when sentiment flips. After a month of historic gains in precious metals, Friday’s downdraft is a reminder that speed works in both directions.

Sources consulted: Reuters, iShares (BlackRock), U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Yahoo Finance, Financial Times