Gold and silver slid sharply alongside global equities, as the assets that had led markets in January abruptly fell out of favour following Friday’s violent reversal.

Gold dropped as much as 8.1 percent on Monday, briefly sinking below 4,500 dollars an ounce after peaking near 5,600 dollars last month.

Silver fared worse, plunging up to 15 percent after a record 26 percent collapse on Friday. Asian equities recorded their worst two-day fall since early April, while futures pointed to further declines in Europe and on Wall Street.

The sell-off spread quickly. Technology shares retreated as investors balked at stretched valuations and the scale of spending tied to artificial intelligence, pushing MSCI’s Asian tech index to its steepest drop since November. With risk appetite evaporating, Bitcoin briefly fell below 75,000 dollars.

The turmoil in precious metals has become a catalyst for broader deleveraging.

“Forced liquidations following margin increases are spilling into other asset classes,” said Tim Waterer of KCM Trade. “The collapse in gold and silver is triggering a domino effect across markets.”

Monday’s moves underline growing fragility after a long rally in metals and successive record highs in equities, fuelled by billions of dollars of AI investment. Investors are now reassessing valuations and recalibrating expectations for monetary policy, particularly amid speculation over a Warsh-led Federal Reserve and renewed pressure from Donald Trump for lower interest rates.