Bank gold traders reaped $500 million as tariff panic set in

Precious metals traders at top banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley posted their best performance in five years in the first quarter, in part thanks to an arbitrage opportunity that sparked a rush of bullion into the U.S.

Twelve leading banks together made $500 million in revenue from precious metals in the first quarter of 2025, the second highest figure in a decade of data compiled by Crisil Coalition Greenwich. That’s approximately twice the average earnings per quarter over the past ten years, the market intelligence firm’s data showed.

Some of the windfall came from a lucrative premium for bullion in the U.S., as fears that precious metals would be subject to tariffs prompted dealers to ship huge volumes of gold and silver into U.S. futures exchange warehouses. 

Gold and silver prices on New York’s Comex exchange spiked above other international benchmarks in the first quarter, meaning traders could buy bullion in trading hubs like London, Switzerland or Hong Kong and transport it to the U.S. to reap a profit before any tariffs came into effect. A similar dynamic was in place in 2020, when the pandemic grounded commercial flights, creating a prolonged arbitrage opportunity for banks that could find some way of shipping bullion to New York.

Morgan Stanley delivered more gold to settle proprietary Comex positions than any other bank in the first quarter, dispatching 67 metric tons of gold, according to exchange data. That amount of metal is worth approximately $7 billion dollars at current market prices. 

JPMorgan, the dominant dealer in precious metals, delivered more than $4 billion worth of gold to settle February futures contracts, in one of the biggest daily delivery notices in the history of the exchange. The trade eventually screeched to a halt in April as bullion was exempted from President Donald Trump’s package of reciprocal tariffs.

Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan declined to comment. 

Bullion-dealing banks — and JPMorgan in particular — have a history of profiting from dislocations in prices across the Atlantic. Unprecedented arbitrage opportunities helped the bank’s metals desk make a record sum of $1 billion in 2020.

Volatility sparked by the unfolding of President Donald Trump’s tariff plans also drove revenue for the 12 banks, said Angad Chhatwal, head of fixed income, currencies and commodities for Coalition. Trading volumes in the London market have also grown in recent years, against the backdrop of a stunning rally in the gold price, which has doubled since late 2022. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com