The recent anniversary of Black Monday and that notorious crash of equities in a single day got me thinking about historical declines in gold.
Since the King of Precious Metals has been crushing it this year and some investors treat it as a safe way to remove exposure from the volatility of the stock market, what have been the largest and fastest declines in gold?
One of the most noted crashes in gold occurred in 2013. One ETF that seeks to track the price of gold fell nearly 9% over one weekend in April of that year.
Those twelve months were especially bad for the commodity. The Wall Street Journal reported at the end of that year:
“Gold prices fell Tuesday, locking in the largest annual decline since 1981 and ending a 12-year bull run.
The precious metal retreated 28% in 2013 as many investors tried to anticipate when the U.S. Federal Reserve might cut its monthly bond purchases, which would remove a long-running support from the gold market.”1
The 1980s had a particularly bad two day run for gold. It fell 14% in two days in February of that year.2
Ironically enough in the middle of writing this post on Tuesday of last week, gold experienced one of its largest single day drops and the worst since 2013.
Duality Research warns:
The last time gold dropped this much in a single day, it spent the following 2.5. years moving sideways. After doubling in 1.5 years, it wouldn’t be surprising if this marks the beginning of a prolonged consolidation phase.3
On the flipside, there are many arguments that gold bulls make for gold who would see this as a correction and potential time to buy the dip. They might point to continued expansion of gold holdings by the world’s central banks.4
This post is not mean to enter that debate.
It is simply to say, gold isn’t a place to run to if you are concerned about volatility.
Warren Pies of 3Fourteen Research points out that even in “a secular bull market, gold drawdowns happen often…routinely suffer[ing] 10% drawdowns (more frequent than equities).”5
Did you know that since 1978 gold has suffered a larger decline than stocks via the S&P 500 AND the average decline of gold has been more than stocks?
It can function as a hedge occasionally, but it’s not a cozy storm cellar immune from its own financial tornadoes.
--
Sources:
- “Gold Falls 28% in 2013, Ends 12-Year Bull Run”, Tatyana Shumsky (December 31, 2013). Accessed online: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304591604579292321014055380
- “CHART: Gold price suffers biggest fall in six years”, Frik Els on September 5, 2019. Accessed online: https://www.mining.com/chart-gold-price-suffers-biggest-fall-in-6-years/
- Posted on X on October 21, 2025. Accessed online: https://x.com/DualityResearch/status/1980657403797573778
- Chart from Financial Times posted on X on October 19, 2025 by Charlie Bilello. Accessed online: https://x.com/charliebilello/status/1980020874947461615
- Posted on X on October 20, 2025. Accessed online: https://x.com/WarrenPies/status/1980391323132973523