The 1980 U.S. stock-market plunge linked to the Hunt brothers’ silver strategy was called Silver Thursday.
The Hunt brothers, Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt, accumulated large quantities of silver and silver contracts. Their purchases helped push silver prices to an extraordinary peak in January 1980. When exchange rules changed and lenders demanded more collateral, the position became difficult to maintain.
On March 27, 1980, known as Silver Thursday, silver prices collapsed and financial markets were unsettled. The episode involved a potential liquidity crisis because the Hunts and associated firms faced enormous obligations. Several major banks helped arrange financing to prevent a broader collapse. Silver Thursday is often confused with Black Thursday, a label associated with the 1929 Wall Street Crash, but the two events occurred more than 50 years apart and involved different commodities and market conditions.