Analysis: The precipitous drop in gold prices may be exacerbated by a "gamma squeeze".

News Brief

**PANews** noted on January 31st that Friday's dramatic gold selloff likely stemmed from what analysts call a "gamma squeeze." Here's how it works: when prices breach key option strike points, those holding short positions must purchase additional futures or ETF shares to rebalance their holdings. Then, as prices retreat below those thresholds, they sell again—creating a self-reinforcing cycle. Heavy trading centered around SPDR Gold ETF strikes at $465.00 and $455.00 that expired Friday. Meanwhile, substantial open interest in CME's March and April contracts clustered near $5,300.00, $5,200.00, and $5,100.00. Consequently, this mechanical hedging intensified the downward momentum considerably.

PANews reported on January 31st that, according to Jinshi, institutional analysis suggests that Friday's sharp drop in gold prices may have been accelerated by a so-called "gamma squeeze." This occurs when prices break through a large number of option open interest levels, requiring traders holding short option positions to buy more futures (or gold ETF shares) to balance their portfolios, and then selling when prices fall back below these levels. For the SPDR Gold ETF, a large number of options with strike prices at $465 and $455 expired on Friday, while CME Group's March and April options also had significant open interest concentrated at the $5300, $5200, and $5100 levels.