Unprecedented moves in gold and silver pique retail interest: Saxo Monthly Client Trends Report January

Market highlights

2026 started with a bang and a flash as Venezuela’s president Maduro was captured in a remarkable snatch-and-grab operation by elite US forces. We then had Trump calling for the US to annex Greenland before backing down at Davos. The US nearly struck Iran.

The yen plunged then rallied sharply after a rout in Japanese bonds sent shockwaves through FX markets, prompting coordinated intervention from both the US and Japan. Trump said he was OK with the dollar’s weakness, prompting more selling. A new Fed chair was nominated, with former governor Kevin Warsh seen providing a steady hand. Investors seem a lot less worried about Fed independence than they were at the start of January. The Powell-era Fed left interest rates unchanged and now looks to be on hold for the foreseeable future. Amidst all this, silver and gold boomed in an historic and extraordinary rally that blew up spectacularly on the final day of trading for the month.

Despite a massive selloff on Thursday and then an even more spectacular rout on Friday, gold and silver were standout performers last month. Gold rose more than 13% for its best monthly gain since September 1999, while silver rose almost 19%, for its ninth straight monthly gain. Copper rallied around 5% and also made fresh record highs before coming under pressure late last week.

Crude oil markets were volatile but the 16% gain for Brent was the biggest monthly rise for four years. Geopolitical risks were very much to the fore and drove price action as crude hit its highest level in several months. Geopolitical risks from Venezuela to Greenland and Iran left traders on edge.

Equities performed well, with the S&P 500 gaining 1.4% and clearing 7,000 for the first time. The Dow Jones posted a gain of 1.7% for January, the Nasdaq rose 1% and the Russell 2000 climbed more than 5% in the month. In single stocks there was a notable divergence within the AI trade as Microsoft suffered one its largest-ever one-day selloffs just as Meta jumped.

UK stocks were positive with the FTSE 100 rising above 10,000 for the first time and remaining above this level by the end of the month for a gain of around 3%. Mining stocks soared on the rally in metals, while defence names rose on bets that military spending is only going to rise. 

Bitcoin fell over 10% for its four consecutive monthly decline, while the US dollar was weaker against all its G10 peers for the month, although we saw some stiffening on the last two days following the nomination of Warsh as the next Fed chair. Sterling notched a second straight monthly gain of approximately 2%.

Client Trends

Saxo UK clients were active in US tech, net buying Microsoft on weakness and net selling Meta into the rally. Amazon, Netflix and Micron were popular names. Chevron was popular after the US moved on Venezuela as investors thought the US oil major one of the main beneficiaries.

Clients increased exposure to the precious metals trade via the iShares Physical Gold ETC, Global X Silver Miners UCITS ETF and the iShares Physical Silver ETC.

Diversification was a strong theme as we saw significant positive buy ratios for a range of ETFs.

Top 40 most traded stocks and ETFs in January

Most Popular – stocks and ETFs with the strongest % buy ratio in January (minimum # of trades required)