The world's largest commodity exchange, CME Group, has once again raised margin requirements for gold and silver futures contracts to mitigate risks stemming from heightened volatility in the precious metals market. Margins are deposits paid by futures market investors to exchanges or clearinghouses to guard against default risks. When market price fluctuations intensify, exchanges typically increase margin levels to reduce exposure. On Thursday, CME Group announced that initial and maintenance margins for COMEX gold futures will rise from 8% to 9% for non-high-risk profile (Non-HRP) accounts. For COMEX silver futures, initial and maintenance margins have been increased from 15% to 18%. The new rates will take effect after the close of trading on Friday, February 6. Since January 13, the U.S. exchange operator has set margin requirements for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium as a percentage of contract value. Previously, margins were based on fixed dollar amounts. Since shifting to the percentage-based method, CME has raised margins three times so far—on January 30, February 2, and most recently. Precious metals have experienced sharp swings in recent trading sessions. After hitting record highs earlier in the week, gold and silver posted their largest single-day declines in decades last Friday. Spot gold rose 2.6% to $4,894.99 per ounce, after earlier falling to an intraday low of $4,654.29. Silver climbed 5.5% to $75.15 per ounce, having earlier dropped to a near two-month low of $63.99. U.S. gold futures for April delivery rose 0.4% to $4,905.80 per ounce, while silver futures fell 3% to $74.46.