COMEX silver falls 11%, MCX falls 8% intraday, while CME margin increase drives white metal prices lower

The 11% intraday crash on the COMEX was driven by profit booking after CME Group raised margin requirements for white metal futures on its exchanges by $3,000 for the March 2026 contract, bringing the margin to about $25,000, up from $22,000 previously.This marked an increase from around $20,000 earlier this month and followed a previous 10% increase announced on December 12.

The CME Group announced the revised margin requirements on Friday, which will take effect on Monday. The margin increase was aimed at curbing speculative trading amid recent sharp rallies that have seen silver consistently hit new all-time highs.COMEX silver prices hit an intraday low of $73,710 around 09:06 GMT (14:40 IST) after scaling from a session high of $82,670.

This move took place in global markets including India where silver futures plunged by Rs 21,000 per kg on the MCX in March, hitting an intraday low of Rs 2,32,663. This marked a decline of over 8% from the day’s high of Rs 2,54,174, which was also a new lifetime high for silver.

Also read: Silver price falls Rs 21,000 in an hour as overheated rally cools down after crossing Rs 2.5 lakh/kg

Anuj Gupta, director of Ya Wealth Global Research, attributed the sharp decline to the CME Group’s move. “Today, silver tested a new high of Rs 2,54,174, but later we noticed a correction as prices fell in the international market. In the spot market, silver tested almost $83 per ounce. We also noted that the CME Group, which runs major derivatives exchanges such as CME, COMEX, CBOT and NYMEX, announced an initial margin of $25,000 for silver derivatives contracts in March 2026, up from $22,000 rather, we are seeing profit bookings due to the increase in margins,” said Gupta. Kaynat Chainwala, Assistant Vice President – ​​Commodity Research at Kotak Securities, confirmed Gupta’s views.

Meanwhile, apparently productive talks between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over a possible peace deal with Russia have also dented the appeal of both gold and silver.

At the time, gold prices were trading around 1.5%, or $67 an ounce, lower at $4,485.20.

Trump said on Sunday that he and Zelensky were getting “a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.

Despite the sharp correction, silver is up 181% this year, outperforming gold, thanks to its designation as a critical U.S. mineral, supply constraints and low inventories amid rising industrial and investment demand.

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