Gold and silver prices lost ground on Wednesday as investors booked profits after a historic annual rally and exchange operator CME Group hiked the margins on precious metal futures for the second time in the space of a week.

Spot gold prices dipped 0.1% to $4,339.89 per ounce at 8:50 a.m. ET, extending losses in the run-up to the new year. The yellow metal notched a one-week low in the previous session.

Spot silver prices, meanwhile, tumbled 5.6% to $72.15 per ounce, paring gains after climbing above $80 for the first time at the start of the week.

The moves come at the end of a blockbuster year for the precious metals.

Gold is up more than 64% year-to-date, on track for its best annual performance since 1979 and third straight positive year. The rally has been supported by a multitude of factors, including the impact of U.S. interest rate cuts, tariff tensions, and robust demand from exchange traded funds (ETFs) and central banks.

Silver has far outpaced gold in 2025. The metal, which has endured wild price swings in recent days, is on course for annual gains of nearly 150%. Like gold, this would be silver’s best yearly performance since 1979. Silver’s price boom has stemmed from a mix of low supply and high demand from India, as well as industrial needs and tariffs.

CME Group, one of the world’s largest trading floors for commodities, said on Tuesday that margins for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium would increase again after the close of business on Wednesday.

It said in a statement that the decision was made “as per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage.”

The notice means traders will need to put up more cash on their bets to insure against the prospect of a default when they take delivery of the contract.

CME Group raised margin requirements for precious metals earlier in the week, prompting gold and silver futures to fall sharply on Monday.

— CNBC’s Gaelle Legrand contributed to this report.

Trading came to a standstill on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Friday following a cooling issue at one of its data centers.

“Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers, our markets are currently halted,” a spokesperson for the CME said in an emailed statement in the early hours of Friday.

“Support is working to resolve the issue in the near term and will advise clients of Pre-Open details as soon as they are available.”

The CME — the largest exchange operator in the world by market value — trades futures and options across various asset classes, including agricultural commodities, energy, metals and equities.

A spokesperson for Dallas, Texas-headquartered CyrusOne was not immediately available for comment.

By 2:30 a.m. ET, futures prices for WTI crude, U.S. 10-year Treasurys and the S&P 500 were among those that had not been updated, LSEG data showed.

It’s not the first time the CME has had to shut down electronic trade. Back in 2014, technical issues shut down some trading on the CME’s Globex electronic system, impacting agricultural contracts.

Last year, trading of quities, bonds and exchange-traded funds was also temporarily halted in Switzerland after stock exchange SIX had problems disseminating data.