What became of the Hunt brothers, who once controlled more than half of the world's silver? In 1980, one of history's most famous and disastrous short squeeze failures occurred. At the time, the US was experiencing the end of the Vietnam War and the oil crisis, the dollar was completely decoupled from gold, and with high inflation, the dollar continued to depreciate. Precious metals and other hard assets became safe havens for the wealthy. The Hunt brothers were oil tycoons in the US at the time, their family having accumulated billions of dollars in wealth. Starting in 1973, they gradually invested in silver, initially only to hedge against inflation risk, when silver was only $5. But gradually they discovered that by using spot trading with leverage, their capital could influence silver prices to some extent. So they began to buy on a large scale, borrowed from multiple banks, increased leverage through futures contracts, and transported all their silver spot holdings to a warehouse in Switzerland. Soon, the price of silver soared to $35, and by 1980, it had reached an all-time high of $50. The Hunt brothers had completely monopolized the market, with their holdings valued at over $10 billion. They had also stored all of their physical silver holdings, and at their peak, they controlled more than half of the world's circulating silver, reaching two-thirds. With prices soaring and virtually no spot goods circulating in the market, futures prices continue to rise, resulting in a steady increase in paper profits. This allows for further leveraged purchases of spot goods, creating a positive cycle. This positive cycle led to a short squeeze, as many speculators who short silver were forced to buy physical silver after their positions were liquidated, further exacerbating the rise in silver prices. Just as the Hunt brothers were basking in the joy of their monumental operation, the stock exchange pulled the plug. The New York Mercantile Exchange suddenly announced that silver could only be sold, not bought. At the same time, it significantly increased margin requirements, forcibly reducing leverage. The entire market was perceived as having cut off buying pressure, while only selling pressure remained. The original positive cycle suddenly reversed, turning into a negative cycle where prices fell but margin requirements skyrocketed. The Hunt brothers couldn't hold on any longer; if they didn't pay the margin, they would be liquidated, so they were forced to start selling silver. On March 27, 1980, the price of silver plummeted from $48 to $10, causing a global silver market crash. The Hunt brothers suffered a total loss of $3 billion and owed $1 billion, leading them to declare bankruptcy and triggering a mini financial crisis that affected several banks.