Gold traded as low as about $3,986 an ounce after a 2.8% drop on Thursday, roughly 22% under its January 26 record of $5,110.50, and was at $3,998.72 early Friday in Asia, according to Bitcoin.com News. Silver fell 5.8% to an 11-month low, platinum lost 4%, palladium 3.7% and copper 2.8%, and analysts put the two-day hit to gold and silver at more than $1.3 trillion. The drivers lined up against a metal that pays no yield. Brent jumped about 3.8% to $112.92 on fears of war with Iran, reviving inflation worries, and CME FedWatch showed close to 90% odds of a December rate hike. Even as investors bought Treasuries and the 10-year yield fell about 17 basis points to 4.96%, gold kept sliding. Veteran trader Peter Brandt posted a gold futures chart, said he was "not predicting it," and warned that a continued slide could see the "entire 2025 advance" erased, adding, aimed at Peter Schiff, "That would not be according to your script." Schiff had called gold at $4,145 "a gift" less than a week earlier. On a bitcoin vs gold basis the year is now close to a draw: gold is down about 8% from its 2025 close near $4,354, and bitcoin about 7.4% from its close near $87,498. At $81,000 and $4,000 an ounce, one bitcoin buys a little over 20 ounces, which is the BTC/XAU ratio our bitcoin priced in gold page tracks live.