Gold Price Biggest One-Day Drop Since 2013: What Triggered the Crash?

Gold just pumped the brakes on its record-breaking rally as its price suffered its worst one-day fall in over a decade.

Spot gold plunged as much as 6.3%, briefly touching $4,080 per ounce, while silver tumbled nearly 9%.

The fall in prices marked the sharpest drop for both metals since their multi-year runs began last year.

The selloff began late Monday and accelerated through Tuesday. The rapid descent in the gold price was fueled by profit-taking, a burst of US–China trade optimism, and a stronger dollar, according to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg.

The scale of the reversal caught even seasoned traders by surprise after gold’s meteoric rise to a record high of $4,381 earlier in the week.

Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, called the move a “classic technical correction.”

He told Bloomberg that dealers in precious metals are realizing gains after a strong rally. The recent upswings were not sustainable in the long term.

Analysts at Standard  Chartered echoed the sentiment, describing it as a healthy rotation out of overcrowded safe-haven trades.

Gold Price: A Rally Too Hot to Handle

Gold has surged more than 55% year‑to‑date, outperforming equities and bonds as investors piled in to hedge against inflation, geopolitical turmoil, and central bank balance sheet expansion.

The rally, driven partly by massive physical buying by the People’s Bank of China and the Reserve Bank of India, attracted new participants from retail and algorithmic trading desks alike.

By mid‑October, however, momentum began to look stretched. “A sharp jump in volatility at the highs last week was flashing caution,”

Reuters quoted metals trader Tai Wong as saying. “That was enough to encourage at least short‑term profit‑taking.”

Meanwhile, President  Donald Trump’s conciliatory remarks toward China helped lift risk appetite globally.

Investors fled safe assets like gold in exchange for equities and higher‑yielding currencies. The US Dollar Index gained 0.4%, further eroding bullion’s appeal to non‑US buyers.

Bitcoin and Crypto Remained Relatively Calm

What’s so curious about this gold reversal is how differently crypto assets behaved during the same window.

Bitcoin and Ethereum both saw mild inflows as traders rotated out of overextended metal positions into digital assets. The BTC price went from $108,000 to $113,000 on October 21, 2025.

As gold retraced, Bitcoin’s relative calm reinforced its image as an emerging macro hedge.

Many Bitcoiners enjoyed gold’s sudden pullback, having become accustomed to false breakouts and crumbling safe-haven narratives.

They also pointed out that a 6% drawdown is par for the course in Bitcoin territory. Laced with irony, on-chain analyst Checkmate joked:

Diwali Doldrums Add to the Slide

Adding to the drama was the timing. The Diwali holiday in India, the world’s largest buyer of physical gold, thinned Asian liquidity.

It muted demand for jewelry and coins and impacted the gold price. The  Economic Times  of  India reported that the domestic gold market was closed during the sell‑off.

It is expected to open lower following the steep international drop once trading resumes later this week.

Not 2013 All Over Again

This decline in the gold price is a mirror image of April 2013’s “flash crash” when gold collapsed 9% in a single session.

But by most accounts, it’s not the start of another prolonged bear market. Indeed, the precious metal still remains up over 50% year to date.

Kitco analysts stressed that, structurally, gold’s long‑term uptrend remains intact. Central banks are still net buyers, and growing expectations of further Federal Reserve rate cuts by year‑end continue to underpin demand, even after this week’s washout.

To put the day’s fall into perspective, Tuesday’s move erased roughly three weeks of gains. Yet, gold remains comfortably above its August base near $3,500 per ounce.

Market strategists at Bloomberg described the pullback as “long overdue.” But they pointed out that gold is still one of this year’s best‑performing assets.

The Big Picture

Despite the panic, the backdrop driving this historic rally remains in play. Inflation, global debt, and waning confidence in fiat currencies persist.

With total worldwide borrowing topping $315 trillion, central banks remain trapped between tightening to defend their currencies and easing to avoid recession.

Gold’s role as a hedge in that context is hardly diminished. Still, traders caution that volatility in the gold price will remain elevated.

As The Economic Times noted, while India’s local buyers may take advantage of lower prices after Diwali, global funds are likely to stay cautious until fresh economic data clarifies inflation and rate expectations.

In short, this wasn’t a collapse born of fundamental change; it was a reality check for an overheated market.