ETFs: Wave of selling in gold and silver ETCs

The drastic slump in silver and gold prices is also affecting ETF and ETC trading. Many are divesting themselves of their silver and gold price trackers. In terms of equity ETFs, global and European stocks are in demand, while US stocks are less so.

February 3, 2026. FRANKFURT (Deutsche Börse). The nomination of Kevin Warsh as successor to US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has caused quite a stir on the ETF and ETC market. “It's been an exciting few days with some big swings,” explains Ivo Orlemann from ICF Bank. “Most of the activity was in silver, but also in gold,” he adds. “The main topic for us is clearly precious metals,” reports Michael Norizin of Lang & Schwarz. Until Thursday of last week, there had been some buying and some selling, but on Friday, after the announcement of Powell's successor, there was almost only selling. “Now things have calmed down.” The market had expected a future Fed chair who was even more loyal to Trump, but with Warsh's nomination, “safe havens” are no longer quite as sought after.

Profit-taking after a surge

The price of gold had fallen from $5,570 to $4,200, and the price of silver from $122 to below $80. Recently, prices have risen again slightly. Orlemann reports extremely high sales for ETCs such as WisdomTree Physical Silver (JE00B1VS3333), but also Invesco Physical Gold (IE00B579F325) and the two WisdomTree ETCs with leverage of three (IE00B7XD2195, IE00B8HGT870). Lang & Schwarz recorded by far the highest turnover in WisdomTree Silver 3x Daily Leveraged. Due to the strong performance of the silver price and the leverage, the price fell from over €1,000 to below €300 at times. The previously sought-after gold and silver miners were also sold off, as Frank Mohr of Société Générale reports, such as the iShares Gold Producers (IE00B6R52036), the VanEck Gold Miners (IE00BQQP9F84) and the VanEck Junior Gold Miners (IE00BQQP9G91). 

World stocks preferred over US stocks

In comparison, the fluctuations on the stock markets were moderate. On Tuesday afternoon, the DAX (DE0008469008) was back at 24,835 points, not far off its record high of 25,508 points three weeks ago. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones are also trading close to their all-time highs. According to Mohr, US stocks accounted for the largest share of turnover. “However, there is no clear trend,” he adds.

According to Mohr, purchases clearly dominate global and European stocks. Examples include the iShares MSCI World and MSCI ACWI, as well as the iShares Stoxx Europe 600. “The interest in Japanese stocks is also striking,” he notes (LU1481203070). Emerging market ETFs also remained in demand, such as the Amundi MSCI Emerging Markets Swap (LU1681045370). Orlemann also sees continued interest in emerging market ETFs, specifically the HSBC MSCI Emerging Markets (IE000KCS7J59). Always in demand among ICF customers: the VanEck Morningstar Developed Markets Dividend Leaders (NL0011683594). Norizin reports “normal flow” for equity ETFs.