1980 crash in the U.S. commodity markets for silver

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver Thursday</span>

Silver Thursday

<p><b>Silver Thursday</b> was an event that occurred in the United States silver <a href="/en/Commodity_market" title="Commodity market" class="wl">commodity markets</a> on Thursday, March 27, 1980, following the attempt by brothers <a href="/en/Nelson_Bunker_Hunt" title="Nelson Bunker Hunt" class="wl">Nelson Bunker Hunt</a>, <a href="/en/William_Herbert_Hunt" title="William Herbert Hunt" class="wl">William Herbert Hunt</a> and <a href="/en/Lamar_Hunt" title="Lamar Hunt" class="wl">Lamar Hunt</a> (also known as the Hunt Brothers) to <a href="/en/Cornering_the_market" title="Cornering the market" class="wl">corner</a> the silver market. A subsequent steep fall in silver prices led to <a href="/en/Panic_buying" title="Panic buying" class="wl">panic</a> on commodity and <a href="/en/Futures_exchange" title="Futures exchange" class="wl">futures exchanges</a>.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">1980 crash in the U.S. commodity markets for silver</div>
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<figure class="wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Silver_price_in_USD.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Silver_price_in_USD.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Silver_price_in_USD.png/300px-Silver_price_in_USD.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="994" data-file-height="645" data-file-type="bitmap" height="195" width="300" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Silver_price_in_USD.png/450px-Silver_price_in_USD.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Silver_price_in_USD.png/600px-Silver_price_in_USD.png 2x" alt="Silver_price_in_USD.png"></a><figcaption>Silver price history in 1960–2020 showing the Silver Thursday event in 1980</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Gold_price_in_USD.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Gold_price_in_USD.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Gold_price_in_USD.png/300px-Gold_price_in_USD.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="994" data-file-height="645" data-file-type="bitmap" height="195" width="300" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Gold_price_in_USD.png/450px-Gold_price_in_USD.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Gold_price_in_USD.png/600px-Gold_price_in_USD.png 2x" alt="Gold_price_in_USD.png"></a><figcaption>Gold price history in 1960–2020 showing the Silver Thursday event in 1980</figcaption></figure>



Silver Thursday was an event that occurred in the United States silver commodity markets on Thursday, March 27, 1980, following the attempt by brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt, William Herbert Hunt and Lamar Hunt to corner the silver market. A subsequent steep fall in silver prices led to panic on commodity and futures exchanges. 